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"AUX MORTS" 



fainted by H'aldo Pierce 



Memorial Volume of the 
American Field Service in France 



" Friends of France 
1914-1917 



Edited by 
JAMES W. D. SEYMOUR 

With an Introduction by 
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL A. PIATT ANDREW 



AMERICAN FIELD SERVICE 

50 STATE STREET, BOSTON 
I92I 



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Copyright, 1921, American Field Service 
A II rights reserved 



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EDITOR'S PREFACE 

In this volume an attempt has been made to catch in 
short biographies the true spirit of those who volunteered 
to serve with the Field Service in France and died for our 
Cause. The intent has not been to eulogize their hero- 
isms nor dilate upon their great achievement, but to 
sketch these men's lives, to touch on their ideals and be- 
liefs, to express a little of their dreams. The work has 
been undertaken with the deeply-felt, sincere wish to pay 
deserved tribute to the memory of their living and ser- 
vice, and to the inspiration of their death. 

The plan was formulated by the Chief of the Field Ser- 
vice in France, A. Piatt Andrew, with the idea that each 
story, while complete in itself, should be part of a whole 
which would set forth the purpose and vigour of thought 
that animated all of the volunteers. It was carried out 
in detail by a group of Field Service men who made every 
effort to put upon paper the real characters of the men of 
whom they wrote. In all cases the families were con- 
sulted, and, except for the exigencies of space on some 
occasions, their wishes were followed and their sugges- 
tions carried out. Always they rendered every aid in 
their power, furnishing statistics, photographs, personal 
correspondence, details of home and school life, and anec- 
dotes which bring to life again youthful days and experi- 
ences wherein were often foreshadowed the idealisms of 
the future. All this made the task a very personal and 
moving one, and impressed on each biographer the sig- 
nificance of the stories thus gathered together — not 
only individually, but forming, in the mass, a striking 
estimate of the temper of the volunteers. It made the 
writing a thing of heart as well as hand. The editorial 
staff consisted of Preston Lockwood, S. S. U. 3, Jerome 
Preston, S. S. U. 15, Arthur J. Putnam, S. S. U. 18, and 
Frank J. Taylor, S. S. U. 10, each of whom strove to see 
all angles of each situation and of each man's interests. 
Stories also have been graciously contributed by Henry 

iii 



EDITOR'S PREFACE 



Sydnor Harrison, S. S. U. i, J. Paulding Brown, S. S. U. 
I, and Harold B. Willis, S. S. U. 2. Gratitude is owing 
to the colleges of the men in many cases for precise data 
and essential facts. Many comrades, likewise, were 
called upon for help, as were the families, and all have 
assisted in every possible way, correcting our errors and 
suggesting chances for improvement. 

The frontispiece is a reproduction of the painting by 
Waldo Peirce, S. S. U. 3, in commemoration of the men 
whose stories are here told. To him as well as to all 
those who labored faithfully in sending material, who 
advised, and criticised, and wrote, but most of all to 
Colonel Andrew, with his constant enthusiasm and ju- 
dicial supervision, wishing it to be, above all a tribute of 
appreciation from the Field Service to its members who 
are gone, the existence of the book is due. To them, 
everyone, go very sincere thanks. 

THE EDITOR. 



IV 



CONTENTS 



Frontispiece, — " Aux Morts," Painted by Waldo Peirce 
Editor's Preface ....... iii 

Introdvction , A . Piatt Andrew . . . . ix 

Richard Nelville Hall . ..... 1 

Edward Joseph Kelley . . . . . . 3 

Edward Carter Sortwell ..... 5 

Howard Burchard Lines ..... 7 

Addison Leech Bliss ..... 9 

James Rogers McConnell . . . . .11 

Henry Eglinton Montgomery Suckley . . .13 
Albert Augustus Porter . . . . .15 

Leif Norman Barclay . . . . . .17 

Benjamin Russell Woodworth .... 19 

Paul Gannett Osborn . . . . . .21 

Arthur Myers ....... 23 

George Frederick Norton ..... 25 

Harmon Bushnell Craig ..... 27 

James Wilson Gailey ...... 29 

Perley Raymond Hamilton ..... 31 

John Verplanck Newlin ...... 33 

Paul Cody Bentley ...... 35 

Douglas MacMonagle . . . . . .37 

Gerald Colman King ...... 39 

Henry Harrison Cumings, 3d . . . . .41 

Henry Brewster Palmer ..... 43 

Eric Anderson Fowler ...... 45 

Robert Douglas Meacham ..... 47 

Alden Davison ....... 49 

Gordon Stewart . . . . . . .51 

Ernest Hunnewell Leach ..... 53 

Jack Morris Wright . . . . . .55 

Philip Phillips Benney ...... 57 

Charles Alexander Hopkins ..... 59 

Newberry Holbrook ...... 61 

William Jewell Whyte ...... 63 

Percy Leo Avard ....... 65 



CONTENTS 



Henry Howard Houston Woodward 

Carlos Willard Baer 

Schuyler Lee 

Grandville LeMoyne Sargeant 

Theodore Raymond Frutiger . 

Charles Vivian DuBouchet . 

Roger Sherman Dix, Junior . 

William Becker Hagan . 

William Key Bond Emerson, Junior 

Richard Ashley Blodgett 

Ernest Armand Giroux . 

Paul Borda Kurtz . 

Richard Stevens Conover, 2d 

Coleman Tileston Clark 

Roger Marie Louis Balbiani 

Alan Hammond Nichols . 

Donald Asa Bigelow 

Arthur Bluethenthal . 

Gordon Kenneth Mackenzie 

Frank Leaman Baylies . 

Edward Trafton Hathaway . 

Warren Tucker Hobbs 

Goodwin Warner . 

George Waite Goodwin 

Randolph Rogers . 

John Ralston Graham 

Carleton Burr . 

Stuart Mitchell Stephen Tyson 

Stuart Carkener, 2d 

Malcolm Troop Robertson 

Walter Bernard Miller 

Clayton Carey Ellis 

Robert Harris Barker . 

Stanley Hill .... 

Alexander Bern Bruce . 

Henry Howard Houston, 2d . 

Harry Worthington Craig 

Charles Henry Fiske, 3d 



VI 



CONTENTS 



Greayer Clover 
William Armstrong Elliott 
Walter Laidlaw Same rook 
Warren Thompson Kent . 
Horace Baker Forman, 3d 
Harold Holden Sayre . 
Charles Patrick Anderson 
Benjamin Howell Burton, Junior 
William Henry Taylor, Junior 
Fred A. Hannah 
Leon Hamlink Buckler . 
Arthur Clifford Kimber 
Philip Newbold Rhinelander 
George Eaton Dresser . 
Stafford Leighton Brown 
John Howell Westcott, Junior 
Albert Frank Gilmore . 
Waller Lisle Harrison, Junior 
Tingle Woods Culbertson 
Paul Warren Lindsley . 
Frederic Moore Forbush 
Kenneth Armour Bailey 
William Noble Wallace 
William Clarkson Potter 
Leon Henton Donahue . 
George Merrick Hollister 
Gilbert Robertson Glorieux 
Merrill Manning Benson 
Wilbur LeRoy Boyer 
Danforth Brooks Ferguson 
Howard Crosby Humason 
OsRic Mills Watkins 
Charles Bacon 

George Lane Edwards, Junior 
Philip Winsor 
Meredith Loveland Dowd 
Richard Varian Banks . . 
James Dudley Beane 



143 

145 

147 

149 

151 

153 

155 

157 

159 

161 

163 

165 

167 

169 

171 

173 

175 

177 

179 

181 

183 

185 

187 

189 

191 

193 

195 

197 

199 

201 

203 

205 

207 

209 

211 

213 

215 

217 



Vll 



CONTENTS 



Stevenson Paul Lewis . 

Chester Robinson Tutein 

Arthur Joseph Brickley 

Galbraith Ward 

George Welles Root 

Arthur Richmond Taber 

Charles James Freeborn 

Charles Benjamin Kendall 

Richard Mather Jopling 

Stephen Raymond Dresser 

Edward Ilsley Tinkham 

James Snodgrass Brown . 

Edward Newell Ware, Junior 

Hugo Wing Fales . . 

Kramer Core Tabler 

Frank Hopkins, Junior . 

Jerry Thomas Illich 

Harold Vincent Aupperle 

Alphabetical Index with Places of Burial 



219 
221 

223 
225 
227 
229 
231 
233 
235 
237 
239 
241 
243 
245 
247 
249 
251 
253 
257 



V111 



INTRODUCTION 

The vision which illumined the world three years ago 
has paled with the light of common day. The mon- 
strous epoch in which we of the old volunteer Field Ser- 
vice played a very little part now looms like a distant 
mountain range upon the horizon. It seems almost as 
remote to us who were participants, as it will seem to 
those who contemplate it generations hence. Gone are 
the flash and thunder of battle, and gone also is the will- 
ing acceptance of hardship and effort and sacrifice in a 
common cause. Gone are the grim peril and the an- 
guish, and gone likewise is the readiness with which men 
did and dared and died, when called, for noble ends. 
Though millions risked everything only three years ago 
that others might live in freedom and that justice might 
prevail, only dreamers, it seems today, would jeopardize 
their lives for such immaterial and disinterested aims. 
We need not seek the reasons for this change. Whatever 
they may be, the fact is all too manifest. 

Is it not possible to rescue from extinction some traces 
of the spirit which exalted those Great Days ? Can we 
not revive an echo of that war-time faith which made it 
worth our while to strive and give and suffer for some- 
thing beyond ourselves and those immediately about us? 
Must the fearful price of the victory be wasted, or may 
we perhaps hold fast some fragments of the vision which 
made that victory possible ? Can we not at least keep 
fresh the memory of what was great and beautiful during 
those epic years, and hand it on to those who never knew 
them ? 

In answer to such questioning, and with such purpose 
as it indicates, this book has been composed. It is not 
alone a backward glance upon cherished personalities, 
closely associated with us in the war, which in the melan- 
choly course of that catastrophe were blotted out. It is 
not merely a tribute to those tenderly regretted com- 
panions of romantic and tragic hours in France. It is 

ix 



INTRODUCTION 



all this ; but it is intended to be something more. We 
have hope that the stories of what these young Ameri- 
cans did and gave may help to perpetuate the vision 
which their brief lives reflected. The pages that follow, 
drawn from the little circle of our comrades' lives, por- 
tray the exalted spirit which among the Allied peoples 
translated the war into a religion and made its battles a 
crusade. They show the faith which inspired those 
peoples and which, even in the darkest hours of German 
ascendancy, spurred them, with certainty of ultimate 
success, to any sacrifice, — a faith in the ineluctable 
final triumph of justice and right. In commemorating 
these men, we hope to keep alive some embers of the 
spirit and the faith with which their lives were conse- 
crated. 

There is another purpose which was fundamental with 
the old Field Service, and which every one of these men 
would have hoped to see continued, — the furthering of 
friendship and understanding with the people of France. 
The men whose life stories are here recounted went as 
volunteers to France, most of them many months before 
our government had ceased to be neutral, all of them 
before an American Army had been sent there. They 
went to serve with the Armies of France. The lives of 
some of them had already terminated in active service 
with those armies a year or more before our government 
had decided to join hands with France. Not one of 
these men but had formed warm comradeship with the 
French soldiers whose hardships and gaieties they 
shared, whether plodding through the wintry mud of 
bleak, war-ridden villages, resting by dusty roadsides 
under the summer sun, or waiting by night in the fetid 
squalor of black dugouts. Not one who had not grown 
to regard these soldiers, — their blue-coated comrades, — 
with affection and more — with something akin to 
reverence. Not one who did not become attached to 
France as to no other country save his own. Of this 
their letters and their diaries give abundantly the proof. 

X 



INTRODUCTION 



How then could we better commemorate these men than 
by encouraging through future generations that friend- 
ship and understanding between the youth of the two 
countries which so marked their relations in old Field 
Service days, and which so imbued their lives and fateful 
destinies? What could be more fitting than that 
through all the years to come young Americans should be 
stimulated to go to France, to explore the fountains of 
her learning, and to bring back sympathetic comprehen- 
sion of her traditions and her traits, and that young men 
of France should reciprocally be enabled to study here 
our ways of thinking ? 

With this idea in mind, a plan has been undertaken 
which, when it succeeds, will provide in perpetuity an 
annual fellowship in memory of each and every one of 
these men, either to send an American student to France, 
or to bring a French student here. Thus will the fra- 
ternity of war days be cherished and kept alive for 
posterity. Successive generations of French and Amer- 
ican youth will forever go back and forth between the 
two countries, fostering mutual comprehension and 
mutual sympathy, just as these men were glad to do. 
If endowments for these fellowships can be found, they 
will build a noble and enduring monument to the hun- 
dred and twenty-seven comrades who gave all that they 
were and all that they might ever have hoped to be to 
the common cause of America and France. They will 
help to make perpetual the spirit in which these men gave 
their lives. 

If there Is anything In this volume to awaken solemn 
and mournful thought. It must not be regret for lives 
that have ended, and for youths that are gone. The 
book will have failed of Its essential purpose If the im-^ 
pression that it conveys, so far as these young men are 
concerned, Is one of blighted hopes, or loss, or unful- 
fillment. It Is really the story of dreams that have 
come true, of careers that have been completed without 
disappointment, without retrogression, without regret, 

xi 



INTRODUCTION 



of lives that have counted as much as individual lives 
may count, in the final reckoning. These men had the 
fortune to depart gloriously at the pinnacle of their 
career. They achieved the summit, and facing eternity 
in the morning of their lives gallantly offered life's noon- 
time and its evening upon the altar of their country. 
They "bartered dull age for immortality." 

" They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old ; 
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn." 

And we who are left, their erstwhile comrades of great 
days and nights in France, shall think of them "at the 
going down of the sun, and in the morning," and we 
shall think of them as always young and always happy. 
For us they can not alter. They are beyond all sorry 
chance of change. 

I know no words that more perfectly express how we 
shall remember them, as time and life speed by, than 
those of the sonnet written many years ago by a great 
American, bravely facing the loss of his son. 

"At eve when the brief wintry day is sped, 

I muse beside my fire's faint-flickering glare — 
Conscious of wrinkling face and whitening hair — 

Of those who, dying young, inherited 

The immortal youthfulness of the early dead. 
I think of Raphael's grand-seigneurial air ; 
Of Shelley and Keats, with laurels fresh and fair 

Shining unwithered on each sacred head ; 

And soldier boys who snatched death's starry prize. 
With sweet life radiant in their fearless eyes, 
The dreams of love upon their beardless lips. 

Bartering dull age for immortality ; 

Their memories hold in death's unyielding fee 
The youth that thrilled them to the finger-tips." * 



A. Piatt Andrew 



May, IQ2I. Gloucester, Mass. 
■* Thanatos Athanatos, by John Hay. 



Xll 



^J)(Cemorial ^Volume 
of the 

<^merican Field Service 
in France 



R. N. H. 

'As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; 
I will be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." 

Psalm 17 : 15 



Fine youth! That sees the vision Hke a star 
Eternal in the heavens; nor earth can hide 
Nor time can dim it. Evermore content 
With Life that holds it, or with solemn Death 
That tells its secret. Evermore content. 

When he went forth with earnest modesty 
To do his best for what he saw was best, 
He made no claim on Fate for life or death, 
Or joy, or glory, only seeing clear 
The vision of man's service for his kind, 
Whence only life is possible, and moves 
Up to the heights of undespairing love. 

And we, who follow him with yearning thought, 
Need not to question for his peace and joy 
Who wakens in the presence of the Lord 
And with his likeness will be satisfied. 

Great youth! Who sees his vision face to face. 



RICHARD NELVILLE HALL 

More perhaps than in that of any other there exists in the 
life and achievement of Richard Nelville Hall a fineness 
and a poignant glory of self-sacrifice. " What better ideal 
can we have?" writes an associate in the Field Service, 
" A strong spirit drawing on a frail body to unselfish work 
for others." 

In 191 5, when the Middle West felt only vaguely the 
throbbing of the Great War, " Dick" showed his spirit 
by going eagerly along the uncertain path of service. His 
death brought sharply home to the whole country the 
bitter reality of the conflict and the necessity of having a 
share in it. Ambassador Jusserand wrote Dick's parents : 
" More has been accomplished by your son, in the brief 
space allotted to him, than can be the fate of millions who 
lead long, plain, ordinary lives." 

As a small boy he said to his mother, after much think- 
ing : " It seems to me it's awfully foolish to let yourself get 
to wanting something you know you can't have." And 
this philosophy of his own devising was a guide to his life. 
For while " he had a good deal to make him happy," yet 
he was happier in living than many a boy who had much 
more. On November 11, 191 5, Dick wrote from France: 
"It is rather nice to know I can be happy in the face of 
some hard and dirty work, even with privations. I am 

extremely happy I am not talking or thinking 

about Christmas. I don't dare." 

At Michigan the words of a friend, who feels himself " a 
better man for having known Dick," typify the esteem in 
which Richard Hall was held. His constitution was not, 
however, robust, and after a year at Ann Arbor, he sought 
the invigorating open-air life afforded by Dartmouth. Dr. 
Nichols, the president, wrote his parents : " Certainly not 
in recent years has a young man of my acquaintance given 
so fine an example of what a young man ought to 

do His memory will be cherished through many 

college generations." He completed his college work a 



RICHARD NELVILLE HALL 



month early and sailed for France on June 5, 1915. " Full 

of enthusiasm, tenderness, and quiet power We 

knew, when he went, that a soldier indeed had 
gone " 

Lovering Hill, leader of Section Three in Alsace said that 
Dick became known as its " most refined, likeable, and 
conscientious" member, " immediately liked by the French 
people for his sympathy, and respected by the ambulance 
men for his efficient work." " The ugly facts of war in 
some mysterious way were consecrating him to the highest 
ideals of service." "Dick's devotion to duty" Stephen 
Galatti called " a source of inspiration" and said, "It has 
been a privilege to be with him continually, at work and 
at play, to depend on him always, to look for his cheerful 
smile and to learn patience and kindness from him." 

Late in December vicious attacks surged over Hart- 
mannsweilerkopf. " Dick" never faltered, until during the 
black night of Christmas Eve, on the road up the moun- 
tain he was killed by a chance shell, ** in the morning of his 
youth." Just before dawn a comrade found him there, 
dead beside his shattered ambulance, his hands still clutch- 
ing the wheel, and his face wearing a smile as though he 
thought of the Christmas at home. He is buried at 
Moosch, in the valley of St. Amarin, his grave kept fresh 
with flowers by the village folk who knew and loved him. 

Richard Elliott spoke truly, when he said : " It seems 

to me Dick had less need of this life than most of us 

Had n't he already found that key to true living which is 
reflected in our unfailing confidence? How beautifully 
the mantle of heroism falls about his young life. . . . 
The lives of all who knew him will always be richer for his 
having lived." 

" There fell a very modest and valiant Gentleman." 




RICHARD NELVILLE HALL 

Born May 18, 1894, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Son of Dr. Louis P. and 
Elizabeth D. Hall. Educated Ann Arbor schools, University of Michigan, 
and Dartmouth College, Class of 1915. Joined American Field Service, 
June 15, 1915; attached Section Three. Killed by shell near Hartsmanns- 
weilerkopf, Alsace, night of December 24-25, 1915. Croix de Guerre, 
Buried Moosch, Alsace. 




EDWARD JOSEPH KELLEY 

Born March 19, 1889, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Son of JosephJ:H. and 
Mary Reuss Kelley. Educated Philadelphia high schools ; Rock Hill Col- 
lege, Ellicott City, Maryland ; and University of Pennsylvania, Class of 
191 1. Automobile business, Philadelphia. Joined American Field Service, 
August 26, 1916; attached Section Four. Killed by shell at Marre, near 
Verdun, night of September 23, 1916. Croix de Guerre. Buried at Blercourt, 
Meuse. 



EDWARD JOSEPH KELLEY 

Edward Kelley belongs to that small and heroic band 
of American youths who gave their lives for France while 
their own country still hesitated to take issue. In the 
summer of 191 6, while employed in the service depart- 
ment of a Philadelphia automobile manufactory, he 
read a magazine account of the work which Americans 
were doing in France. On August 26th, he sailed as a 
member of the American Field Service, with the inten- 
tion of devoting to the cause the expert knowledge of 
automobiles which he possessed. 

He had expected to remain in Paris, as may be gleaned 
from letters written home shortly after his arrival, but 
an opportunity presented itself almost immediately of 
joining Section Four at the front and he eagerly hailed 
this chance to see active service in the field. Section Four 
was at the time one of three sections located in the Ver- 
dun sector, whose work lay in the region of the famous 
Mort Homme. 

His term of service was to be short. Six days after 
joining the section, on the night of September 23, 191 6, 
he was making his first trip to the dressing station in the 
little ruined town of Marre, and was being shown the 
road by a veteran of the section named Sanders. They 
had almost reached their destination, a heavily protected 
cellar, when a German shell struck about three yards in 
front of the ambulance, sending its fragments in all di- 
rections. Kelley was instantly killed and his companion 
seriously wounded. They were carried back in another 
ambulance, which was waiting at the post, to Blercourt. 

He was buried there with military honors, just a month 
from the day he had sailed from New York. Mr. An- 
drew, the commanding officer of the Field Service, wrote 
a few days later to Kelley's sister, describing the scene : 
** Imagine a sunny, warm September morning and a vil- 
lage street sloping up a hillside. In the open entry of one 
of the houses, the front of which was hung with the black 



EDWARD JOSEPH KELLEY 



and silver drapery of the church and the tricolor of 
France, the coffin was placed, wrapped in a great French 
flag, covered with flowers and wreaths, at the head a 
small American flag on which was pinned a Croix de 
Guerre with a gold star, the tribute of the Army Corps 
General to the boy who had given his life for France. 
Six French soldiers bore the coffin and then followed rep- 
resentatives of our sections, each carrying wreaths, then 
the General, a group of officers, and after them the fifty 
or more Americans surrounded by a detachment of sol- 
diers with arms reversed. The scene was one which none 
there could ever forget." 

Short as his stay had been with his comrades at the 
front, the place he had made for himself among them is 
more than evident in the following extract from a letter 
sent back to America and signed by every member of the 
section : "We do not know that it is as he would have 
wished, since he had much to live for, but we do know 
that the sacrifice, great as it is, was made ungrudgingly. 
On us who have served here at the front with Edward, 
his sincerity and strength of purpose, his never failing 
willingness to help out, no matter what the assistance 
needed, no matter at what hour of the day or night, his 
earnestness in the work to which he had put his hand, his 
cheerfulness under all conditions, — on us, proud to feel 
that we were his comrades, these qualities have made a 
profound and lasting impression. Always we shall hold 
it a privilege that we served with him, and that it was 
as one of us that he met his heroic end." 



EDWARD CARTER SORTWELL 

"Every person has some trait in his or her character 
which dominates all others. With *Ed,' as one remem- 
bers him as a boy, later at college, and finally in business, 
the one word 'affectionate' strikes the keynote of his 
personality. His happiest moments were spent with his 
family in the country and his love of horses and dogs was 
phenomenal. His next most dominant trait was gener- 
osity. College friends and mess-mates in India have all 
spoken of the pleasure he received in giving. The last and 
possibly the most important characteristic was courage. 
As a youngster at St. Paul's School, one can remember 
his flying tackle, his willingness to take a chance of a 
mighty hard bump in the hope of getting his man. He 
usually got him." 

On the death of his father, a former mayor of Cam- 
bridge, he left Harvard College at the end of his junior 
year and entered the employ of the Ludlow Manufactur- 
ing Associates. It was in pursuit of this firm's transac- 
tions in jute that he was sent to Calcutta, where he re- 
mained for three years. In the spring of 1916, on his way 
back to America, he stopped over in Paris and, becoming 
interested in the work which the American Field Service 
was doing at the front, enlisted for a term of six months. 
Section Eight was just leaving for action, and as one of 
the original members of the section he served from May 
until September, 191 6, in Champagne and around Ver- 
dun. 

Austin Mason, chef of Section Eight, has written of the 
work of the Section : " My memory of the fellows is most 
vivid at the time when we had the hardest work. This 
was at Dugny, near Verdun, and our poste de secours was 
the Fort de Tavannes. One of the hardest attacks on the 
Verdun sector was going on at the time, in June, 1916, 
and those who were with us came through that time with 
great credit. Volunteers were called for every so often for 
some particularly dangerous job, and there was never a 



EDWARD CARTER SORTWELL 



lack of them. I can remember Sortwell, with his earnest 
eager face, volunteering among the first. He did excel- 
lent work while he was with us and all the fellows were 
very fond of him, for he enjoyed a good time when he 
was not on duty and was always ready to take part in any 
amusement or party that was planned. It was a great 
blow to all of us to have him taken away with two others 
of the crowd when the section for Salonica was formed." 

Late in September he volunteered for duty with Sec- 
tion Three in the Orient and was accepted. Barely two 
weeks after landing in Salonica and while waiting for the 
cars to be made ready, he was struck by a heavy motor 
car while crossing a dark street, concussion of the brain 
resulting, and he died the following night, Sunday, No- 
vember I2th, 1916. He was buried in the French Ceme- 
tery on the outskirts of Salonica, his coffin covered with a 
French and an American flag. 

In a letter to Sortwell 's mother, A. Piatt Andrew, 
head of the American Field Service, wrote: "Your son 
has left in the memory of all those who were associated 
with him a fine record of arduous and in many cases 
dangerous work, eagerly and courageously performed ; 
an example of manly endurance in the performance of 
duty which will never be forgotten. He never hesitated 
and never shirked before a dangerous mission. He is the 
third of our American volunteers to give his life in the 
service of France in her hours of peril, and with his sacri- 
fice he has added one more link to the bonds of friend- 
ship which have bound our two countries since their 
earliest days." 




EDWARD CARTER SORTWELL 

Born March 25, 1889, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Son of Alvin Foye 
and Gertrude W. Sortwell. Educated St. Paul's School, Concord, New 
Hampshire, and Harvard University, three years, Class of 191 1. In busi- 
ness with Ludlow Manufacturing Associates; three years in India, from 
1913. Joined American Field Service, April 26, 1916 ; attached Section 
Eight to September, 1916, then Section Three in Salonica. Died Novem- 
ber 12, 1916, of injuries received in accident, Salonica, November 11. 
Buried, Salonica. Body transferred to Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, 
Massachusetts. 




HOWARD BURCHARD LINES 

Born March 5, 1891, in New York City. Only son of Dr. Ernest Howard 
and Elisabeth L. Lines. Home, Paris, France. Educated Anglo-Saxon 
School, Paris; University of Paris, Sorbonne, " baccalaureat " 1908; Dart- 
mouth College, Class of 191 2 ; Harvard Law School, 1915. Joined American 
Field Service, September 8, 1915 ; attached Section One to December 30, 
1915; reenlisted September 17, 1916; attached Sections Eight and One. 
Died at the front, of pneumonia, December 23, 1916. Buried Christmas 
Day, La Grange aux Bois, Argonne. Croix de Guerre. Body now in Ameri- 
can Military Cemetery, Suresnes, near Paris, Seine. 



HOWARD BURCHARD LINES 

"Rainy" Lines, — as he was known by his classmates 
at Dartmouth and Harvard, and by many of his friends 
in the Field Service, — died while on active duty at the 
front, December 23, 191 6, and was buried on Christmas 
Day, with all military honors, in the little town of La 
Grange aux Bois, in the Argonne. 

Educated in France, and loving intensely her people 
and her traditions. Lines was prepared from the begin- 
ning to make any sacrifice for her cause. "Devoted and 
courageous," read an Army Order of the Day, "he was 
sent to the rear, ill. He returned again eagerly to the 
front after his recovery, contracted a grave malady, and 
died for France." 

On graduating from the Harvard Law School in the 
early part of the summer of 1915, "Rainy" Lines en- 
listed in the Field Service and was attached to Section 
One, then working under unusually hard conditions in 
the neighborhood of Dunkirk. "What a comfort it is to 
have Lines with us," wrote one of the directors of the 
Field Service. "His work is always well done, he is never 
rattled, and, at the same time, he has a quick, cheerful, 
and sympathetic nature from which others draw en- 
couragement. " 

In the summer of 191 6 he was operated upon for ap- 
pendicitis and an abdominal injury. He also was com- 
pelled to spend several weeks in the hospital suffering 
from chicken pox complicated by an attack of grippe. 
Only those who saw him at this time can know how much 
he chafed at this enforced withdrawal from active ser- 
vice, how he coaxed the doctors to permit his return to 
the front, and how eagerly he resumed his work. 

This time he was temporarily attached to Section 
Eight, where, as in Section One, he soon became at home, 
and did sterling work, but he was insistently reclaimed 
by his old Section, and to Section One he was presently 
reassigned. Lines made many friends, both among his 



HOWARD BURCHARD LINES 



fellow volunteers and among the French with whom his 
work constantly brought him in contact, and with whom 
he loved to spend his time when off duty. Just before his 
death he was recommended for the Croix de Guerre. It 
had also been decided to appoint him Sous-chef of the 
Section, for every one was coming to rely more and 
more upon his experience, his steady sense, his ability to 
co-operate with the French authorities, his enthusiasm, 
and his qualities of leadership. 

The immediate cause of death was cerebral meningitis 
following an acute attack of pneumonia. Four of his 
comrades in Section One acted as pallbearers ; the funeral 
services were read by a Protestant clergyman serving 
with the armies as a stretcher bearer ; and the interment 
was witnessed by his father, mother, and sister, who had 
been given special permission by the Ministry of War to 
proceed from Paris to the front ; by Robert Bacon, for- 
merly American Ambassador to France ; and by A. Piatt 
Andrew, Inspector General of the Field Service. 

None of the little group of Americans who stood that 
Christmas Day by the open grave of this volunteer could 
foresee the future, but in retrospect they will always 
think of "Rainy" Lines as the advance guard of the for- 
midable thousands of their countrymen who, two years 
later, hallowed with their blood the valley of the Meuse 
and were laid to rest, as he was laid to rest, beneath the 
white crosses which dot its hillsides. 

Lines was one of the first Dartmouth men to join the 
Field Service, and a Dartmouth bed at the American 
Ambulance at Neuilly, endowed by college friends, was 
dedicated to "Howard Burchard Lines, son of Dart- 
mouth, a sympathetic, loyal, generous friend, whose 
death befitted his life and who needs no words to pay 
him honor. " 



ADDISON LEECH BLISS 

Born in Springfield, where he had his earliest schooling, 
Addison Leech Bliss went when about ten years of age 
to Fay School at Southboro. In 1904 he entered St. 
Mark's to prepare for Harvard, and joined enthusiasti- 
cally in the activities of his companions. He was an ath- 
lete of no mean ability, playing for two years upon both 
the school football and baseball teams, in his last year 
captaining the latter. He became extremely popular, 
and was a monitor as well as president of his class. 

An old friend, who had known Addison since he was a 
small boy and seen a great deal of him at the Bliss sum- 
mer home in New London, was, he said, "greatly at- 
tracted because of his winning personality," adding, "I 
am told he was very popular both at his school and with 
his classmates at Harvard." Upon entering college with 
the Class of 1914 Bliss continued to win friends and ath- 
letic successes. A subsequent class report says : " His gen- 
erosity, geniality, and whole-heartedness made him one 
of the most likable men it is given us to know," His sec- 
ond year he spent at Haverford College, returning to 
Harvard in the fall of 191 2. His popularity was undi- 
minished and while he was elected to several clubs, un- 
fortunately his studies did not receive a great deal of at- 
tention. The late Lawrence Sexton, a classmate of his 
father's at Harvard, remarked of Addison that "he did 
not graduate owing to the fact that he was not a diligent 
student. Notwithstanding his lack of diligence, he is a 
bright, capable, energetic young man." Proof of this last 
is the success which he made of his business affairs. 

Bliss left college about Christmas time and took a posi- 
tion with the Ellsworth Collieries Company, after a 
while joining the Union Collieries Company of Pitts- 
burgh. He was active in the development of the mines, 
being concerned with the installation work. As a result 
of his efforts he was made a director of the company, 
which he left only to enter the ranks of the Allies. 



ADDISON LEECH BLISS 



The following, which concerns his War service, is 
quoted from "St. Mark's School in the War against Ger- 
many," edited by A. E. Benson : " Bliss' record is in one 
sense a short one, for he was not granted the time in 
which to accomplish the work for which he went to 
France ; but this bare fact, though cruel to him, makes 
little difference to his friends, and none in the honor and 
love in which they hold him. Before his country entered 
the war he left his home and his business, volunteered 
from pure sense of personal duty, and died in the service. 
Such a record needs no longer life in which to emphasize 
it, however bitterly his friends may grieve that he could 
not have lived and had his reward." 

Addison resigned his position in Pittsburgh, sailed for 
France on the Touraine, January 28, 191 7, a volunteer 
driver in the American Field Service. After a stormy 
voyage and while in Paris waiting to be sent to the front, 
Bliss caught a severe cold from which pneumonia devel- 
oped, and on February 22d, less than a month after leav- 
ing the United States, he died. Two days later he was 
buried, with very beautiful services, at the American 
Church in Paris. 

A fitting tribute and expression of their regard for him 
comes from his Harvard Classmates in their second Re- 
port : "The multitude of friends he has left, who loved 
him so dearly, will miss him always and the place he 
filled in the hearts of all of us can never be refilled." 



10 




ADDISON LEECH BLISS 

Born November 21, 1891, in Springfield, Massachusetts. Son of Chester 
W. and Isadora Leech Bliss. Home, Boston, Massachusetts. Educated 
Springfield schools, Fay and St. Mark's Schools, Southboro, Massachusetts, 
and Harvard University, Class of 1914. Left college Junior year to enter 
business, with Ellsworth and later Union Collieries Companies of Pennsyl- 
vania. Joined American Field Service, January 28, 1917. Died of pneu- 
monia in Paris, February 22, 191 7. Buried in Paris, France. Body trans- 
ferred to Peabody Cemetery, Springfield, Massachusetts. 




JAMES ROGERS McCONNELL 

Born March 14, 1887, in Chicago, Illinois. Son of Judge Samuel P. and 
Sarah Rogers McConnell. Home, Carthage, North Carolina. Educated 
Morristown School, New Jersey ; Haverford School, Pennsylvania, and 
University of Virginia, Class of 19 10. In business. New York City. From 
1912, Industrial Agent, Randolph and Cumberland Railroad, North Caro- 
lina. Secretary, Carthage Board of Trade. Joined American Field Service, 
February 11, 1915 ; attached Section Two until December 12, 1915. Croix 
de Guerre. Enlisted French Aviation, October i, 1915. Trained Pau and 
Plessis-Belleville. Breveted February 6, 1916. Attached as Sergent, Lafa- 
yette Escadrille, N 124, April 20, 1916. Killed in combat over the German 
lines, March 19, 191 7, near Petit-Detroit, southeast of Ham. Croix de 
Guerre with palm. Buried Petit-Detroit, Aisne. 



JAMES ROGERS McCONNELL 

In the long list of those who gave their lives in the War, 
there is one small group of names which must ever rank 
above the rest. These were the men who, before America 
entered the struggle, fought and died for the cause which 
they had made their own, side by side with the blue 
coated soldiers of France. Of these James R. McConnell 
was one. 

When war broke out in Europe he was employed in 
Carthage, North Carolina, as the land and industrial 
agent of a railroad company. He soon came to the con- 
clusion, as he is quoted in the introduction to his book, 
"Flying for France," that : "These sand hills will be here 
forever, but the war won't, so I 'm going." From Febru- 
ary to December, 1915, he served with the American 
Field Service, first as one of a group of drivers attached 
to a hospital at Beauvais, and, from April on, as one of 
the original members of Section Two at Pont-a-Mousson, 
where he had the reputation of being the most fearless 
member of the section. 

It was undoubtedly in no small part his love of danger 
and adventure which first drew McConnell to France, 
but by the fall of 191 5, these motives had given way en- 
tirely, before the keen realization of what the war meant, 
to a desire to give his utmost to the cause of France. He 
left the Field Service and enlisted in the French Army 
with the idea of training for aviation and in April, 191 6, 
was sent to the front in the newly formed Lafayette 
Escadrille, with such comrades as Rockwell, Lufbery, 
Prince, and Chapman. 

At the front he seemed destined to have bad luck from 
the start. Twice he was left without a machine, once 
after an accident at Luxeuil, and again at the time of his 
first trip over the Verdun sector. In the latter instance 
he boldly attacked six German planes and in the un- 
equal combat had his machine riddled with bullets. In 
August he and Lufbery brought down a two-seated Ger- 

II 



JAMES ROGERS McCONNELL 



man machine and each was officially credited with half a 
share in the victory. Soon afterward, however, while 
making a landing in the dark, he so badly wrenched his 
back that the resulting rheumatism confined him to the 
hospital until the following spring. Then, despite the 
fact that he was still unfit for service, he insisted upon 
returning to the squadron on March lo, 191 7. 

Nine days later he fell at the little village of Petit- 
Detroit, southwest of St. Quentin. One of his comrades, 
C. C. Johnson, wrote : "Like old Kiffin, Mac died glori- 
ously and in full action. It was in a fight with three Ger- 
mans in their lines. Genet took one Hun and was 
wounded. The last he saw was a Hun on Mac's back. 
Later we learned from the cavalry that there were two on 
Mac and after a desperate fight he crashed to the ground. 

Three days later we took that territory and Mac 

was buried where he fell, in a coffin made from the door 
of a pillaged house." In his lifetime "Jim" had said 
were he killed he desired to be buried where he fell, and 
so it is. The French 165th Infantry used stones from a 
nearby ruined village to erect there a beautiful monu- 
ment. The grave is decorated with flowers by the peas- 
ants, and in the words of one of them, "It will always be 
covered with flowers ; you know he was a volunteer." 

No words can add to the record of his achievements, 
nor can any one who knew him ever forget the impres- 
sion of his manly nature, whimsical humor, fearlessness, 
and above all, his love for France. One phrase from his 
posthumous citation for the Croix de Guerre with palm, 
is sufficient proof that these qualities were not unknown 
or unappreciated by the army he so nobly served : 
'' Pilote modeste, autantque courageux, disait souvent dses 
camarades : ' Tant mieux si je dots etre tue, puisque c'est 
pour la France.' " 



12 



HENRY EGLINTON MONTGOMERY SUCKLEY 

"These boys who have gone, taking our colors and our spirit into the out- 
posts of civilization, will one day be honored and remembered as having 
deserved well of their country and having by their example and their sac- 
rifice kept alive a noble tradition and a true American spirit In a 

dark period, perhaps the darkest in our whole history, it is the example of 
boys like Suckley which gives us hope even in despair." 

Editorial, "New York Tribune," March 28, 1917. 

Henry Suckley, one of the first Field Service men to 
reach France and participate in the work at the front, 
was mortally wounded on March 18, 191 7, at Zemlak, 
Albania, while in the active discharge of his duties as 
Chef of Section Ten. He died a day later in a hospital at 
Koritza, where he was buried with all military honors by a 
Protestant chaplain, in the Allied cemetery, among the re- 
mains of many of the soldiers for whom he had given his life. 

Speaking by his grave the senior French officer pres- 
ent said : "Henry Suckley always joined to the highest 
qualities of a leader the humble patience of a soldier, be- 
lieving that the best way to obtain obedience was him- 
self to set an example in everything." And one of the 
directors of the Field Service wrote when he heard of his 
death : "Of the many hundreds of Americans who have 
come and gone in this organization, he was one of the 
three or four on whom we depended the most and who was 
the most liked and trusted by those who worked with 
him or for him." 

Suckley joined the Field Service in February, 1915, and 
in May of the same year he went to the front with Sec- 
tion Three. He remained continuously with that unit, on 
the Alsatian, Lorraine, and Verdun fronts until Septem- 
ber, 1 91 6, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for gallantry 
in action, and appointed Sous-chef of the Section. He 
then made a short trip home to recruit men and collect 
money for the Service, and returning in November to 
France was put in command of Section Ten, the money 
for the organization and support of which had been con- 
tributed by the New York Stock Exchange. 

13 



HENRY EGLINTON MONTGOMERY SUCKLEY 

Section Ten was ordered at once to join the Army of the 
Orient at Salonica, and, when it was given work to do at 
the front, began immediately to make an enviable repu- 
tation. But Suckley, to whose influence as leader so 
much of its success was due, did not live to receive his 
share of the credit, for on March i8th there was an 
enemy air raid over Zemlak, where Section headquarters 
had been established, and he was mortally wounded by 
a fragment of a bomb. 

He was carried in one of the Section's ambulances to a 
hospital in Koritza where he died quietly the next morn- 
ing. He retained consciousness all night and gave direc- 
tions about the work of the Section and said repeatedly 
to everybody who saw him, "Don't bother about me." 

To the lot of Henry Suckley, while a volunteer in the 
Field Service, fell many tasks, — to work and to wait in 
the rear while the foundations of the Service were being 
laid, to be one of the first to take part in active battle op- 
erations at the front, to return to the United States and 
interest others in the vital work which was being done 
in France, and, finally, to assume his first command upon 
a distant front amid strange and perplexing surroundings. 
He met each demand that duty made upon him with a 
success and a modesty which won the affection and the 
admiration of his fellows, and he will always remain with 
us, noble in memory and in influence. 



14 




HENRY EGLINTON MONTGOMERY SUCKLEY 

Born February i8, 1887, in Orange, New Jersey. Son of Robert Bowne and 
Elizabeth Montgomery Suckley. Home, Rhinebeck, New York. Educated 
abroad, Phillips Academy, Exeter, and Harvard University, Class of 1910. 
In business. New York City. Joined American Field Service, February 12, 
1915; attached Section Three; Sous-chef, May, 1915, to September, 1916. 
Recruited for Field Service, in America, September to November. Com- 
mandant Adjoint, Section Ten, November, 1916. Croix de Guerre. To the 
Balkans. Wounded by avion bombs, March 18, at Zemlak. Died March 19, 
191 7, at Koritza, Albania. Buried in Koritza. 




ALBERT AUGUSTUS PORTER 

Born September 30, 1896, in Buffalo, New York. Son of Alexander J. and 
Maud Langmuir Porter. Home, Niagara Falls, New York. Educated Rid- 
ley College, St. Catherines, Ontario, and Cornell University, Class of 
1919. Plattsburg Camp, 1916. Joined American Field Service, March 12, 
1917 ; attached Headquarters. Died in Paris of pneumonia, April 25, 1917, 
at Hospital Buffon. Funeral services in Paris. Buried Oakwood Cemetery, 
Niagara Falls, New York. 



ALBERT AUGUSTUS PORTER 

Albert Augustus Porter, when war broke out in 1914, 
was at Ridley College, St. Catherines, Ontario. His 
residence in Canada gave to him, far more than to most 
boys of his age in the United States, a realization of the 
true significance of the struggle, and although but eight- 
een years of age he was eager from the first to enlist with 
his Canadian school-mates for service in France. It was 
consideration for his family's wishes, however, which in- 
duced him to postpone for the time his project and to 
continue his studies at Cornell University. 

The summer of 1916 he attended Plattsburg, return- 
ing to Cornell in September, but by mid-winter his desire 
to take an active part in the war was too great to be 
longer denied and in February he enrolled with the 
American Field Service. He wrote from New York early 
in March, a day or two before sailing : "Naturally I feel 
a little too happy, but it is because I am going to do 
what I have always longed to do.' ' 

The sort of youth he was, who sailed so happily away, 
is admirably shown in a letter to his family from one of 
his headmasters at Ridley College : "Since he entered the 
lower school as a little boy, my admiration and affection 
for him have never waned. I never knew him to say a 
mean word or heard of his doing a thing which would not 
bear the full light of day. Full of enthusiasm for all the 
good and true things of life, he was one of my ideals of 
what a boy should be. His boyish consideration for 
others, his constant desire to do what was right, his in- 
tolerance of wrong, all thes^ grew to manhood with him 
and made it impossible for him to stay at home while 
there was such work to be done.' ' 

Upon his arrival in Paris he was assigned to Section 
Four and was on the point of leaving for the front when 
he contracted measles which necessitated his being sent 
to a hospital. Here he remained, chafing under the delay, 
and more and more anxious each day to join his com- 

15 



ALBERT AUGUSTUS PORTER 



rades at the front. It seemed to him particularly hard to 
be on the verge of realizing his dream and then to be held 
back by a trivial illness. 

At last his eagerness was so great that he insisted upon 
going out to test his strength, but the raw Paris spring 
weather was too much for him and pneumonia devel- 
oped. He died on April 25, 191 7, when not yet twenty- 
one, a month after reaching France. A military funeral 
was held at the American Church, the first since the 
United States had declared war, and was attended by 
many of his comrades and officers of the Field Service 
and by prominent American and French residents. His 
casket, draped in an American flag, was sent back to 
Niagara Falls. 

It seems especially sad that one who had so long de- 
sired to join the struggle should die in this way. He had 
already traveled thousands of miles to achieve his pur- 
pose and it was only a seemingly cruel chance which 
snatched him away just as he was about to reach the 
front. His very eagerness to serve would have rendered 
him of exceptional value to the cause, yet, dying as he 
did, his name stands, for all who knew him, as that of a 
soldier who gave his all for his country. 



16 



LEIF NORMAN BARCLAY 

At the outbreak of the war in 1914, Leif Norman Barclay 
was in Norway visiting the country of his ancestors. Con- 
tact with this land that had bred heroes long before Amer- 
ica was known to exist, fired his Norse blood and fixed his 
determination to serve under the Tri-color of France in 
the struggle that represented to him romance, adventure, 
and sacrifice — life at its broadest and fullest. In 
November then of 1914 he joined the ranks of the 
American Ambulance, going into the field with Section 
Two, in which he served, except for a three months' fur- 
lough to the United States in 1915, until June of 1916. 
Immediately his term of enlistment expired Leif entered 
French Aviation. Delayed some weeks in reaching the 
front, because of an accidental pistol wound, after suc- 
cessfully passing through the schools, Barclay made up 
for lost time by going after the Huns with an enthusiasm 
and dash that electrified his companions. Captain 
Echard, his commander, said of him : " Impatient to dis- 
tinguish himself in daring action, never permitting a day 
to pass without seeking battle, it was constantly neces- 
sary to restrain his zeal." 

Harold Buckley Willis, the first member of the Lafa- 
yette Escadrille to be captured, and Leif's comrade in 
both Field Service and aviation school days, gives this 
striking account of him and his worth : 

"The surviving poilus of the 1915 Bois-Le-Pretre offen- 
sive of the 76th Division will certainly remember the 
genial 'blond' of 'les americains' our comrade, Leif Bar- 
clay, long after the rest of us are forgotten. His cheery 
faculty of quickly putting himself on a footing of friendly 
intimacy with those bearded warriors was such that 
eventually he was known throughout the length and 
breadth of our eight mile front as ' Mon pot. ' 

"Leif shared with Vivian DuBouchet the distinction 
of being both one of the earliest and youngest volunteers 
for the American Ambulance Service, for he joined Sec- 

17 



LEIF NORMAN BARCLAY 



tion Two in the winter of 1914 at the age of nineteen. 
Newcomers to the section and later to the aviation 
schools and squadrons to which he was attached will 
always have a kindly remembrance of Leif for the trouble 
he took to help them learn the ropes and to teach them 
how to make themselves comfortable. At Buc, Avord, 
and Pau, Barclay did more than any of us to lend friendly 
aid to newly-arrived compatriots. 

"Leif was one of the first Americans to be assigned to 
an entirely French pursuit squadron. This was no hard- 
ship, for his genial good-nature caused him to be welcomed 
with open arms into the French pilots' mess. The cour- 
age and audacity which had carried him, grinning, 
through smoke and eclats on bombarded roads did not 
fail him now. His eagerness to volunteer for special 
patrols early won the affection of his fellows and the 
respect of his superiors. His lieutenant stated that Leif 
was more pleased by an opportunity to make an extra 
sortie, than by a permission to Paris — a feeling hardly 
typical of aviators in general. 

"A pitiful accident over his home field, due to a struc- 
tural fault in his plane, caused his death and prevented 
his making that great name for himself in the air which 
such fearless energy as his must otherwise ultimately have 
won." 

Leif was one of those adventurous spirits for whom no 
other end could have been more fitting or inevitable — 
in the air, on duty, as he might have wished. 

"He had proved his metal." 



18 




LEIF NORMAN BARCLAY 

Born May 21, 1895, in New York City. Son of Dr. H. V. and Hansine O. 
Barclay. Early home, East Elmhurst, New York. Educated New York 
public schools. Two years in business. Joined American Ambulance Field 
Service, November 24, 1914; attached Section Two until August, 1915. 
Three months leave in America. Re-enlisted Field Service November, 
191 5 ; attached Section Two to June 12, 1916. Enlisted French Aviation, 
June 26, 1916. Trained Buc, Avord, Cazeau, Pau, and Plessis-Belleville. 
Breveted, October 6, 1916; attached Escadrille N-82, April 12, 1917- 
Promoted Sergent, May 31, 191 7. Croix de Guerre with palm. Killed in 
aeroplane accident June i, 1917, at Chaux, north of Belfort. Buried Chaux, 
Territoire de Belfort. Body probably to be transferred to American Ceme- 
tery, Belleau Wood. 




BENJAMIN RUSSELL WOODWORTH 

Born August 5, 1886, in Stockton, California. Son of Benjamin Russell 
and Ruth G. Woodworth. Home, Germantown, Pennsylvania. Educated 
Milton Academy, Milton, Massachusetts. Traffic Department, Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad, Philadelphia, 1905 to 191 2. Lumbering, Maine woods. 
Joined American Field Service, May 31, 1915; attached Section One, to 
July 5, 1916. On leave in America to October. Rejoined Section One, 
October 21, 1916. Commandant Adjoint, March, 191 7. Killed in aeroplane 
accident near Soissons, June 15, 191 7. Croix de Guerre. Buried, Chalons- 
sur-Vesle, Marne. 



BENJAMIN RUSSELL WOOD WORTH 

On leaving Milton Academy in 1905, Benjamin R. Wood- 
worth made his residence in German town, Pennsylvania, 
and entered the employ of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 
traffic department, in Philadelphia. Here he remained 
until 191 2, when, finding the confines of an office too irk- 
some, he left for several seasons in the Maine woods. He 
spent some time at Cedar Swamp, West Sebois, Maine, 
following the woodsman's life in all its phases : lumber- 
man, hunter, and guide. In the spring of 1915, drawn by 
the opportunity for action which the war offered, he en- 
listed in the American Field Service and joined Section 
One at Dunkirk in June. 

It has meant much to any American who had any share 
in the life of France during those first years of the war, 
and how much more to anyone who served as a part of 
the French Army at the front. One of the members of 
Section One, writing in the "History of the American 
Field Service in France," has described an impression of 
those early days : " At our base, Dunkirk, we shared the 
life of a town under sporadic but devastating bombard- 
ment ; still farther forward, in Ypres, we beheld a town 
bombarded from the face of the earth in a single night. 
There we shared no life, nor yet in Nieuport, for there 
was none to share." 

Woodworth played no small part in the life and activi- 
ties of the section. W. Yorke Stevenson, who succeeded 
him as leader of the section in June, 1917, wrote : "Abso- 
lutely fearless, of remarkable cheerfulness under the most 
unpleasa^nt circumstances, a born leader, he made war 
for me almost seem pleasant. He met every disagreeable 
happening with a laugh and a shrug. A born athlete, he 
was always the first to make us, many of whom were dis- 
tinctly lethargic, get busy. At times of repos, football, 
baseball and other sports kept us in condition and 
checked the 'growsing' and 'Benny* was the one that 
started all the games. In time of stress he made the 

19 



BENJAMIN RUSSELL WOODWORTH 

most cowardly of us feel ashamed. Many a time I said 
to myself, 'Well, if that bird can do it I suppose we've 
got to. And above all his unfailing cheerfulness I shall 
never forget. Of all the bully crowd that I had the privi- 
lege of knowing he stands out alone. He needs no monu- 
ment nor written words, all those who knew him can 
never forget 'Woody.'" 

In July, 1 91 6, having served for more than a year with 
the section, he returned to America. He spent some time 
in the vicinity of Boston and Philadelphia, getting in 
touch with old friends, and made a trip to the Pacific 
Coast to see his mother who resides in San Francisco. 
While there he was instrumental in collecting the money 
for an ambulance which he subsequently drove. He re- 
enlisted in October and returned to France, rejoining his 
old section in the Argonne, and the following March he 
was appointed Chef while the section was en repos at 
Vadelaincourt, near Verdun. 

His term of leadership was to be brief. Three months 
later, June 15, 191 7, Wood worth was instantly killed 
while riding as a passenger in a French aeroplane. The 
accident occurred as he and Chatkoff, a pilot from an 
escadrille near Muizon where the section was quartered, 
were leaving the grounds of the Lafayette Escadrille not 
far from Soissons. One of his comrades wrote, a short 
time afterward: "Woody was buried Sunday morning, 
June 17th, with all military honors, in the little cemetery 
of the shattered church of Chalons-sur-Vesle, while the 
guns thundered. Every day some of the men coming 
back from twenty-four duty at the front line posts stop 
off a few moments at the little cemetery and we keep his 
grave covered with wild flowers plucked near the lines." 



20 



PAUL GANNETT OSBORN 

"Youth must give up youth itself, and give 
Even its life — that the ideals of youth 
May thus be cherished and forever live." 

It was on his first night of service at the front, with the 
American Field Service, that Paul Gannett Osborn was 
called upon to make his sacrifice. His little span of ser- 
vice was brief, but " the swift, clear glow of sacrificial 
youth" flamed high, before it died, illuminating all it 
touched, and leaving the radiance of his memory to burn 
through the years. To him falls the sad distinction of 
being the first American killed after our entrance into the 
war. 

Paul Osborn and his brother together joined the 
American Field Service with the Dartmouth unit, in 
May, 191 7. Section Twenty-eight, of which Paul was a 
member, received its baptism of fire on the night of 
June 2 1 St. Driving over a muddy road, near Village 
Gascon, Champagne, Paul came upon a comrade's 
machine stuck in a shell hole, and stopped to help, despite 
a heavy German barrage. Before the car could be extri- 
cated Paul was hit, and mortally wounded. He was hur- 
ried to the Farman hospital, near Mourmelon-Ie-Grand, 
where every effort was made to save his life, but gangrene 
set in and he died a few days later. Stanley Hill, a fellow 
member of that section, who himself died of wounds a 
year later, wrote of Osborn's courage and consideration 
in those last days: "Paul was wounded on Thursday 
night but fought death until Tuesday morning. If any- 
thing happens to me, I pray God that I may be as noble, 
as courageous, and as thoughtful of others as Paul was. 
One of the first things he did was to ask for cigarettes — 
he does not smoke himself — to give to the blesses and 
attendants around him. About the last thing he said 
was, * I am going to fight this and win out.' Then he went 

to sleep, became unconscious, and died just as 

if he were going to sleep. He lost the battle of life, but he 

21 



PAUL GANNETT OSBORN 



did 'win out,' for he won a place of honor in eternal life." 
Paul Osborn was buried with all the honors that a great 
nation can bestow. The Divisional Surgeon, speaking at 
the grave, said in part : "Ahead of your armies you came, 
American volunteers, to submit yourselves to this stern 
test, and one of you has already sealed with his blood 
the close fraternity that unites you to the people of 
France." General Baratier, of Fashoda fame, closed his 
beautiful tribute with these words: "Soldier Osborn, 
sleep on among your French comrades, fallen like you, in 
glory ! Sleep on wrapped in the folds of the American 
flag, in the shadow of the banner of France !" * 

From one who knew him well comes the following : 
"Paul Gannett Osborn was a splendid type of young 
American manhood. His was a buoyant and irrepres- 
sible spirit that enjoyed life to the full. He was electrical 
with life. College was an unbounded joy and privilege 
to him. Vibrant with youth, clean and strong in his liv- 
ing, happy in comradeship, there was underneath a 
seriousness of outlook and purpose." 

The Dartmouth Alumni Magazine remarks: 

" It is always that great promise of youth, thwarted by the 
pitiless veto of war, that abides as a never-ending source of 
grief ; unless the friends and families of these boys find con- 
solation in such philosophy as that of Osbom's father who in a 
letter writes this brave sentence : ' It is hard to do so, but we 
try to think that our boy has done more by his death in this 
noble endeavor than he could do in any other way.' " 

*Note: General Baratier's complete address appears on page 289, 
Volume II, of the History 0} the American Field Service in France. 



22 




PAUL GANNETT OSBORN 

Born June 24, 1894, in Rochester, New York. Son of Albert S. and Eliza- 
beth Dunbar Osborn. Home, Montclair, New Jersey. Educated Mont- 
clair High School and Dartmouth College, Class of 19 17. Joined American 
Field Service, May 5, 191 7 ; attached Section Twenty-eight. Wounded near 
Village Gascon, Champagne, June 21. Died of wounds, June 26, 1917, at 
Hopital Farman. Croix de Guerre. Buried HSpital Farman, near Mour- 
melon-le-Grand, Champagne. 




ARTHUR MYERS 

Born March 22, 1886, in New York City. Only son of Charles and Anna 
Freeborn Myers. Educated Cornwall Heights and Brooklyn Polytechnic 
Preparatory Schools. Chubb and Sons, Marine Insurance, two years ; in- 
surance broker with Myers and Eadie. Joined American Field Service, 
March 2, 191 7 ; attached Section Fifteen to May. Croix de Guerre. Sent 
back to America, July, 191 7, suffering from shell-shock. Died at home in 
New York City, October 4, 1917. Buried Greenwood Cemetery, New York. 



ARTHUR MYERS 

Arthur Myers was a mature man when he went to 
France in the American Field Service, with all of a man's 
seriousness of purpose. It was no joyous adventure for 
him, but a duty carefully thought out and prepared for. 
He had French blood in his veins and had stimulated a 
natural and profound admiration for France by exten- 
sive reading in French history. He felt very keenly the 
obligation of America's debt to her and the necessity of 
its payment. On account of a severe illness in his boy- 
hood that threatened the loss of one leg, he had never 
been physically strong, and because he was determined 
that he should not fail in his undertaking, he spent the 
summer before the date of sailing, travelling in the 
Canadian Rockies for the express purpose of hardening 
himself so that he might undergo the rigors of the ser- 
vice with the others. With the same end in view he be- 
came a member of the New York Athletic Club. 

Early in 191 7 he sailed for France via Spain and on 
April loth he set out for the front at the wheel of a car 
of the newly-formed Section Fifteen. Fifty-four hours 
after he had driven slowly out of the garden at 21 rue 
Raynouard, he was on duty as a front-line poste near 
Verdun, and was experiencing the first of the many bom- 
bardments that he was to undergo in the next months. 
It was an extraordinary thing, to which all of his section 
will testify, that in a comparatively quiet sector he should 
have had so many terrible and nerve-racking experiences. 
So often did his appearance at the front line seem to act 
as a signal for a prolonged bombardment that he was 
nicknamed "Obus" by his comrades. But he did not 
falter in spite of the almost malignant persecution to 
which he was subjected, continuing his service under 
difficult and oftentimes apparently impossible condi- 
tions. On one occasion he volunteered to evacuate a 
badly wounded man from a little poste in the Bois 
d'Avocourt, over a road that was being methodically 

23 



ARTHUR MYERS 



"watered" by high-explosive shells, and so excited the 
admiration of the French sergeant in charge of the poste 
that he was recommended for and eventually received 
the Croix de Guerre. He was promoted to the office of 
sous-chef and won the confidence and respect of the men. 
His friend, Earl Osborn, wrote, "As chief of Section Fif- 
teen I should like again to bear witness to the bravery 
and devotion of Arthur Myers." 

"Then we noticed a change in him," wrote one of his 
closest friends in the section. "He kept by himself and 
seemed morose We little thought it was a symp- 
tom of that common disease 'shell-shock,' which so often 
claims the strongest and best." He kept bravely on till 
one day after a particularly frightful experience, as he 
wrote later from Paris, "I got back to the section and 

ielt good for nothing but to lie on my back and 

wonder when the pains in my head would let up." He 
was sent back to Paris to rest and for a time he seemed 
to rally, confidently expecting to return to the section ; 
but his weakened constitution had received a severer 
shock than he realized, and in July he was sent home to 
America. He grew steadily weaker till on October 4, 
1917, he died. 

Arthur had led a quiet, cloistered existence in his home, 
his desires leading him to books and music rather than to 
people and conversation. His sacrifice in going to the 
war was all the finer, for he gave up completely and ir- 
revocably the things he loved, that were so much a part 
of him, — his home, his books, — to enter upon a task 
for which he had no inclination nor any fitness save his 
unwavering resolution. In the words of a member of his 
section, "Because war had no romance or attraction for 
him, Arthur saw only too clearly its horror and its trag- 
edy, and yet he was not afraid. His was a far higher 
order of courage, a far greater measure of devotion !" 



24 



GEORGE FREDERICK NORTON 

Far afield some men travel adventuring, and return 
grown old, to die in their own soft beds, dreaming of 
great days that are past. Not so George Frederick Nor- 
ton, who died near Reims on the Western Front at the 
height of his adventure. North to the ice-fields of Green- 
land with Peary, south to Ceylon, westerly to the Rock- 
ies and Alaska, and around the world he had travelled, — 
exploring, hunting, studying, and making friends. He 
returned to farm with his brother, William P. Norton, 
near Goshen, New York, only to have the war call him 
away again; and this slim, quiet gentleman, judged too 
old for aviation or even for the draft army, sailed for 
France, hoping later to transfer to his country's fighting 
forces. But before American troops reached the front, 
he had been killed while on duty with the French. 
"Fred" said in a letter left behind for his brother : "My 
love for my country and for France is very great. I ex- 
pect to return, but if not, what more glorious death 
could a man die!" 

After attending school at Lawrenceville and studying 
law, "Fred" made the first of his many expeditions. 
There followed several to Wyoming and Alaska, and he 
brought back numerous hunting trophies, among them 
the skull of the extremely rare Alaskan blue bear, and 
the head of a previously unknown grizzly, now called the 
Norton bear. He contributed much material to the 
Smithsonian Institute, made a study of the glacial bear 
for Dr. Merrian of the Bureau of Biological Survey, and 
his collection of bear heads in Washington came to be one 
of the largest and most complete in America. In 1901, 
with only a Japanese servant, " Fred " made a trip around 
the world. In Egypt he contracted typhoid and lay for 
one hundred days in a hospital at Colombo, in Ceylon, 
undergoing two operations without anesthesia, before 
completing his voyage. He helped finance the success- 
ful|Peary expedition, and accompanied it on the "Eric" 

25 



GEORGE FREDERICK NORTON 



as far north as Etah, narrowly escaping disaster on the 
return, when the ship struck an iceberg. 

"Fred" had meanwhile been in partnership with his 
brother, Ex Norton, in Wall Street, but after eight years 
took up farming with his brother, William P. Norton. 
This home life he dearly loved and spoke of it often in 
France. He had gone through many strange experiences, 
but kept always his simplicity and unaffected enthusiasm 
for worth while things. 

Three times he was rejected for the air service as be- 
yond their maximum age limit of thirty-five. He then 
joined the Field Service. For a time he was in charge of 
the general office in the Passy headquarters, and after the 
long days' work, "Fred" found his enjoyment in the 
simplest ways, — sipping citronnade before a Passy cafe, 
or walking the winding streets, talking of the days ahead. 
At his own urging he was sent to the front with Section 
One. W. Yorke Stevenson, the commander, wrote : "Al- 
though only out with us a short time, his charming per- 
sonality and quiet, unassuming manner, no less than his 
marked ability, had endeared him to us all." 

At a chateau near Ludes, on July 12, 1917, hardly a 
fortnight after reaching the Section, "Fred" was killed 
by a bursting bomb. He was buried at night because the 
village was in view of the Germans. " He died on duty at 
his post," said his Chef, "like a soldier and a gentleman, 
in a great cause." He was a fine-grained American of the 
highest type, — courageous, adventurous, generous, ani- 
mated by the highest idealism, — a reserved, undemon- 
strative Christian gentleman. As "Fred's" brother says, 
" honest and loyal with all people, greatly be- 
loved by family and friends, his supreme sacrifice is not 
in vain, for Fred's example and character are a memory 
to be cherished by those of us left." 



26 




GEORGE FREDERICK NORTON 

Born October 28, 1876, in Elk Grove, Christian County, Kentucky. Son of 
Ex and Lucy Moore Norton. Educated at Lawrenceville School, Class of 
1894, and Staten Island Academy. Partner in firm Ex Norton & Company, 
stockbrokers, New York City, eight years. Took up farming, Orange 
County, New Jersey. Joined American Field Service, May 26, 1917; at- 
tached Section One. Croix de Guerre, Corps d 'Armee citation. Killed at 
Ludes by aeroplane bomb, July 12, 191 7. Buried in Ludes, Marne. Body 
subsequently transferred to Moravian Cemetery, New Dorp, Staten Island, 
New York. 




HARMON BUSHNELL CRAIG 

Born July i, 1895, in Boston, Massachusetts. Son of John and Mary 
Young Craig. Home, Boston, Massachusetts. Educated Brookline High 
School and Harvard University, Class of 1919. Joined American Field Ser- 
vice, February 19, 1917; attached Section Two. Died July 16, 1917, at 
Ville-sur-Cousances, of wounds received at Dombasle, Meuse, July 15. 
Croix de Guerre with gold star. Buried Ville-sur-Cousances, Meuse. 



HARMON BUSHNELL CRAIG 

At the hospital where he had been brought mortally 
wounded, Harmon Bushnell Craig was told that his leg 
would have to be amputated. Fully conscious and suf- 
fering intensely, he smiled, "Go ahead. I'll only have to 

buy one shoe then." A few hours later he died 

And in the diary he had kept faithfully, following the 
entry of July 15th, there is a blank sheet, for the entries 
that would have gone on that page are written in red in 
the biggest Book of all. His citation for work at this 

time says: " a montre, notamment les 28 et zg 

juin, la plus grande energie en accomplissant son service 
sur une route decouverte et bombardee.'' 

"Ham" was a member of the class of 1919 at Harvard, 
when, in February, 191 7, he left college to enter the Amer- 
ican Field Service. On March 2d he landed in France, 
writing in his diary, " It is wonderful to realize that I am 
here to help !" and three weeks later he was at the front 
as a member of Section Two. "Ham" chafed rather at 
the inactivity of the comparatively quiet sector in the 
Argonne, but on June 20th he returned from a permis- 
sion of six days spent with his mother in Paris, to plunge 
into the work and danger of an attack. For two weeks he 
toiled almost without rest on the Esnes-Montzeville 
roads through one of the severest ordeals an ambulance 
section could experience. The evening of July 15th, as 
he was loading wounded into his car in the village of 
Dombasle, near Verdun, Harmon was wounded in the 
right leg, when a shell struck only a few feet from his car, 
killing three brancardiers and severely wounding a French 
lieutenant. "Ham" refused to allow his wounds to be 
dressed until the Frenchman had been made comfortable, 
and the delay, with consequent loss of blood, undoubtedly 
lessened his own chances. He died next morning, at two 
o'clock, in the hospital at Ville-sur-Cousances. 

"Ham's" character was as many-sided as his inter- 
ests were numerous. In his year and a half at Harvard 

27 



HARMON BUSHNELL CRAIG 



he won a place on the editorial board of the daily paper 
and already showed such knowledge and appreciation of 
the theater that older men predicted a brilliant future 
as an actor and producer. His diary — in his five months 
of service he wrote almost 30,000 words — is valuable 
for its literary worth as well as for the intimate, beauti- 
ful picture it gives us of his personality. It is written with 
a charmingly light touch and leavened with humor in- 
cluding little sketches and fragments of versification, as : 

"Paint, paint, I'm covered with paint — 
There's hardly a part of my clothing that ain't." 

No subject was too dreary for the sunny, healthy treat- 
ment of his pen, and his observations upon the serious 
questions of the day are remarkable for their keenness 
of perception. When noticeable lowering of Allied morale 
marked the spring of 191 7, he prophesied that "the wave 
of pessimism will recede as it came, leaving hope and de- 
termination in its place." He read a great deal at the 
front, commenting on the books and frequently quoting 
passages that he particularly liked. Describing the ex- 
periences of a night ride when he lost his way in the rain 
and blackness, he concluded quite simply : " Darkness 
and loneliness can certainly exaggerate one's difficul- 
ties." He loved children and they adored him. One entry 
begins, "Romped about the fields with Madeleine and 
Rene": and Paris appealed particularly because "it is 
just made for kids with its big parks and boulevards." 

One of the many friends who had known him at Har- 
vard and in the Service describes him as "one of the 
most beautiful, friendly, open natures I have ever known, 
— sturdy, upright, and generous," and a friend in his 
section cried out for all who knew him, 

" we never knew 

A braver heart, — a finer man ! " 



28 



JAMES WILSON GAILEY 

Just a whole-hearted, care-free boy — that was the 
"Jim" Gailey, a direct descendant of Myles Standish 
and of twelve Revolutionary figures, who sailed for 
France with the American Field Service in May, 191 7. 
Barely two months of active war service and he had 
grown to man's estate with "the spirit of a boy and the 
soul of a man." Gailey gave his life for France and 
America those brief two months later. 

In June he wrote to his family, "I am now really and 
truly in the war. All the realities of a terrible warfare 
have been opened before my eyes. For three years I 
have read about it in a careless, rather unsympathetic 
manner, but my heart never beat faster for it then. Now 
I am interested, heart and soul." Before young Gailey 
had been in France two months he was cited for bravery. 
A few days later he was awarded the Croix de Guerre 
with the gold star, in recognition of his supreme sacrifice. 

The story of "Jim" Gailey's war service is neces- 
sarily brief. Enlisting in Section Sixty-six in May, 1917* 
he was sent at once to the Chemin des Dames region, 
then a theater of some of the most intense fighting on 
the western front. For three weeks previous to his death, 
Gailey and his companions had been working day and 
night, carrying wounded over shell-pocked roads lighted 
only by occasional flashes from rockets far above the 
streams of moving artillery, troops, and other traffic of war. 

On the night of July 25th, Gailey, hearing of another 
ambulance stalled by shell holes and ruins, ran to a 
neighboring poste through the extremely heavy barrage 
and transferred the wounded from the damaged car to 
the hospital. For this he received his Croix de Guerre. 

On the following Sunday morning, the twenty-ninth, 
just after dawn, Gailey and his companion, Hamilton, 
were loading their ambulance with wounded when a shell 
struck the car, killing both the American boys and two 
of the wounded Frenchmen. 

29 



JAMES WILSON GAILEY 



They were buried the next day with all the honors of 
war. General Niessel, commander of the corps, found 
time despite the battle to deliver the address of tribute 
and farewell. Of the ceremony, Colonel Andrew wrote, 
"Certainly no one who was there could think of a more 
fitting or moving termination of any human life than 
such a ceremony on the soil of France in the midst of so 
many French soldiers and American boys who are daily 
risking all that they have and can hope for in the great 
cause." 

Among the many tributes to Gailey, the following 
seemed most characteristic of the boy. His closest friend 
wrote: "It was a privilege for me to have known Jim 
and to have driven with him. No braver nor more gen- 
erous chap ever lived. I am sure Mr. Rice has written 
you of Jim's willingness to go anywhere at all times and 
of course his citation and Croix de Guerre testify that. 
But even this does not wholly tell of the esteem in which 
he was held by the whole section because of his bravery 
and cheerfulness." 

Another companion added, "Several times I had an 
opportunity to see him display his energy and indif- 
ference to personal danger. His only concern was the 
work to be done, and his spirit was a real help to the men 
in touch with him." 

The Dean of Princeton University wrote Galley's 
mother, "May God in his wisdom enable you, with the 
passage of time, to find sweet comfort in the knowledge 
that your boy was one of Princeton's honored sons, a 
splendid friend, a fine scholar, a lovable gentleman, an 
honest, simple man. His name shall always be honored 
as one who gave his all for humanity and civilization — 
a splendid, a beloved Princetonian." 



30 




JAMES WILSON GAILEY 

Born July 20, 1895, in New Park, Pennsylvania. Son of Joseph A. and 
Vilura Wilson Gailey. Educated Fawn Township High School, Perkiomen 
Seminary, Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, and Princeton University, Class of 
1917. Joined American Field Service, May 26, 1917; attached Section 
Sixty-six. Killed by shell, July 29, 1917, Chemin des Dames. Croix de 
Guerre. Buried Beaurieux, Aisne. 




PERLEY RAYMOND HAMILTON 

Born October 30, 1892, in Clinton. Massachusetts. Son of John and Bertha 
Newman Hamilton. Educated Clinton High School, Fenway School of Art, 
Boston, and New York Military Academy. Reportorial work, Clinton 
"Times," and Salesman. Joined American Field Service, June 9, 191 7 ; at- 
tached Section Sixty-six. Killed by shell, July 29, 191 7, at Village Negre, 
Chemin des Dames, near Craonne. Croix de Guerre. Buried Beaurieux, 
Aisne. Body to be transferred to Woodlawn Cemetary, Clinton, Massa- 
chusetts. 



PERLEY RAYMOND HAMILTON 

Late in the night of July 28, 191 7, Perley Raymond 
Hamilton sat at a little table in a corner of an abri 
crowded with groaning wounded, writing a hasty note to 
his mother by the light of a flickering candle-end. He 
had just received his first letter from her since he left 
home and he was anxious to let her know his joy in it and 
to assure her that all was well with him. " I am feeling 
fine and strong," he wrote, "and I can make up the sleep 
when the battle calms down a bit." It had been forty- 
eight hours since he had last slept, but he felt it more im- 
portant to comfort his mother than to take the rest for 
which his whole tired body cried out. He was forced to 
stop, he concluded, because " I am to leave with a load 
of blesses in a few minutes and must have things ready 
for them." He sealed the letter and climbed out of the 
abri. Shells were falling nearby and the eclats whined 
past occasionally, rattling against the doorway. He 
cranked his car while his companion, James Gailey, as- 
sisted the loading of the wounded. And then suddenly 
it happened. There was a quick, terrifying shock — and 

blackness Their comrades found "Ham" bowed 

over the steering wheel, still "on duty." 

Perley was a student of the New York Military Acad- 
emy at the time that he joined the American Field Ser- 
vice. He was a talented artist and musician and as a 
cadet had held the rank of Principal Musician and later 
of Senior First Lieutenant. The Academy paper de- 
scribed him as /'always extremely popular with the whole 
cadet corps, for he was not only a gifted musician but 
also one of those cheerful, optimistic, straightforward 
natures which make friends without effort." On June 7, 
1 91 7, he sailed on the Espagne and within a month he 
was working in the midst of the fierce battle being raged 
for the possession of Craonne Plateau. The letters he 
wrote in the short time before his death are remarkable 
for the depth of their feeling and their power of descrip- 

31 



PERLEY RAYMOND HAMILTON 



tion. No one who has experienced an air-raid can read 

the following without a thrill of understanding. " 

As the purr of the motor appears to be directly overhead 
there is a quick scampering of people and then a deadly 
silence, for in that awful moment before the crash all 
things seem still." 

He was quick and sympathetic in his appreciation of 
the French and thoroughly happy in serving them ; so 
it is fitting that death should have come to him while 
he was in the very act of bringing aid and comfort to 
their wounded. No other ending of his life could have 
been more perfect in his own eyes or more beautiful as we 
see it. And his service was appreciated. General Niessel, 
the commander of the army corps that had so stubbornly 
resisted the German onslaught along the Chemin des 
Dames, attended the funeral in person and pronounced 
the last farewell as he placed the Croix de Guerre upon 
the cofhn. 

Perley's section leader, William Gorham Rice, Jr., 
voiced the feeling of the section. " ' Ham ' has more than 
our undying respect. He won our love and so our sym- 
pathy For he was always cheery and helpful 

and ready to do more than was asked of him." Rice 
tells of having asked "Ham" a short time before his 
death to work out a design to be painted on the cars of 
the section. " In a few days he showed me a fine com- 
position with the motto 'Tourjours pret.'" Soon after, 
when the attack started, though still weak from a recent 
illness he declared himself ready for anything, as he 
always was, even if he had to drive through gas, though, 
as Rice said, "he must have dreaded that, for we feared 
the mask and his asthma might choke him." He lived 
true to his own motto, like the soldier that he was, 
" Tour jours pret." 



32 



JOHN VERPLANCK NEWLIN 

John Verplanck Newlin met death while still but"^a 
lad of nineteen, yet there is compensation in the thought 
that what he gave was a life still fresh with the dreams 
of youth and untouched by any disillusionments. As 
one of his friends at Princeton said. "He had such a 
sense of getting the most out of life." And it is exactly 
this quality which stands out so clearly in Jack's letters 
written during the brief month he spent at the front. 
Ten days before his death and just as the section was 
beginning work in the Verdun sector where he was hit, 
he wrote: "The atmosphere and daily routine of the 
life up here is so entirely different from our life in back 
of the lines that I feel I am living in a dream. But the 
dream is so horribly delightful and weird that I don't 
want to wake up. I can't say that I love it, — that, my 
straight-laced countrymen might consider sacrilege, — 
but I am fascinated by it and love the excitement of it." 

That this is not the mere exuberance of youth, un- 
backed by the sterner qualities which work at the front 
demanded, the following from a letter by his section 
leader, who was wounded by the same shell, will show : 
"Jack was in every way the best man in the section, 
always ready to do more than his share, always cheerful, 
never tiring. He was my best friend out there as well 
as the man I could always count on. It was always 
upon him that I called for a little more when it seemed 
that the men were tiring, and he never failed me. He 
met his end in the same spirit, smiling and brave. We 
were brought down together to the base hospital and 
never in that long drive did he make a sign that he was 
suffering." 

"Jack" Newlin's military career was short. A mem- 
ber of the class of 1919 at Princeton, where he had been 
art editor on the "Tiger" and an editor of the "Litt" 
magazine, he attended Plattsburg during the summer of 
1916 and in May of the following year left college to 

33 



JOHN VERPLANCK NEWLIN 



enlist in the American Field Service. His section, 
S. S. U. 29, left Paris on June 30, 19 17, spent about 
three weeks in the vicinity of Bar-le-Duc, and on July 
23rd started work at the front a little to the west of 
Verdun. It was at the poste of Montzeville on the night 
of August 3rd, that a shell, landing near the entrance of 
the dug-out, wounded him severely just as he was on the 
point of starting his car. He was rushed to the hospital 
at Fleury where he was operated on the following evening. 
The next day he rallied sufficiently to see some of his 
comrades and to receive his citation and Croix de Guerre, 
but died about midnight. 

Madame Jacquemaire, the daughter of M. Clemen- 
ceau, who was a nurse in the hospital in which he died 
wrote in a very touching letter to his mother: " Malgre 
les efforts de tous, le brave enfant s'est etient doucement et 
sans souffrance entre nos bras. Le Commandant Mil- 
itaire lui avait fait remettre pour sa bravoure les plus 
hautes recompenses, la Medaille Militaire et la Croix de 
Guerre. II a contemple ces belles recompenses avec une 

joie profonde Je suis fiere d'avoir connu voire 

admirable enfant." 

And a final tribute from a friend in the Ambulance 
Service cannot be omitted : " I knew Jack at Princeton. 
I as well as every one who was associated with him at 
College felt his attraction, his keenness, and his fineness. 
We felt that he was someone whom it was not only an 

opportunity but a privilege to know You may 

mourn him as a son but you can never forget that he 
met death as fairly as any man has ever done." 



34 




JOHN VERPLANCK NEWLIN 

Born May i6, 1898, in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Son of Richard M. and 
Alice Eisenbrey Newlin. Home, Whitford, Pennsylvania. Educated Haver- 
ford School, Pennsylvania, and Princeton University, Class of 1919. Platts- 
burg Camp, 1916. Joined American Field Service, May 26, 191 7 ; attached 
Section Twenty-nine. Wounded August 3rd, Montzeville. Died of wounds, 
night of August 5, 191 7. Croix de Guerre, Medaille Militaire. Buried 
Fleury-sur-Aire, Meuse. Body transferred to American Military Cemetery, 
Romagne sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. 




PAUL CODY BENTLEY 

Born September 22, 1895, in Cleveland, Ohio. Son of Fredericlc William 
and Josephine Cody Bentley. Home, Chicago, Illinois. Educated^ Chicago 
schools, University of Chicago, and Harvard University, Class of 191 7. 
Plattsburg Camps, 191 5 and 1916. Joined American Field Service, May 19, 
191 7; attached Section Sixty-five. Croix de Guerre. Died September 16, 
191 7, of wounds received September 13, 1917, near Fismes. Buried at St. 
Gilles, Marne. Body transferred to Seringes-et-Nesles, Aisne. 



PAUL CODY BENTLEY 

In September, 191 7, officers commissioned at the first 
officers' training camps were mobilized for overseas ser- 
vice. In September, 1917, Paul Cody Bentley, whose 
eye-trouble had spoiled his chances for the American 
Army, was wounded in battle and died on the Chemin 
des Dames. An editorial in the Chicago Post remarks 
"that this young man who would just be going to the 
Rockford Training Camp, had he waited for a call to 
the new army, has now volunteered, served at the front, 
and met a soldier's death. All honor to his memory!" 

Months before his departure Paul told his parents of 
his desire to go to France. This roused so great anxiety 
and siich immediate opposition that Paul, absolutely 
determined in his own mind as to the rightness of his 
course, made no further mention of his plans. They 
were, however, quite final and definite, waiting only the 
completion of his college obligations. In May, Paul 
wrote his mother, forgetting, as sons must in such mo- 
ments, the bitterness that tinges the pride of mothers 
who see their children go from them as men to war : " I 
am sorry you should be so upset there is prac- 
tically no danger Nothing can make me 

change my mind." Unadorned in his own eyes by any 
trappings of prowess Paul was, as he said, "only doing 
what thousands of others are doing." 

Paul was descended on both sides from old colonial 
families active in the early wars. He received his 
schooling in Chicago. After some months of surveying 
on the Pacific Coast and a semester at Chicago Uni- 
versity, he entered Harvard, Class of 191 7. "A faithful 
and a brilliant student," said a friend of an earlier col- 
lege generation, Merritt Starr, "he was a leader among 
his companions, and a justly distinguished favorite 
with his superiors." He had no ambitions for social 
prominence or wide popularity. His circle of friends 
was a steadfast group, whose feeling went deep and 

35 



PAUL CODY BENTLEY 



meant much. He left college before graduation, having 
attended the two Plattsburg summer camps and been a 
corporal in the Harvard Regiment. 

Bentley sailed for France on May 19, 191 7, and went 
to the front with Section Sixty-five of the Field Service, 
where he exhibited ingrained qualities of faithfulness 
and cheerful disregard of self. The latter colors his 
letters. Redfield of his section said "Bentley was one 
of our best drivers. He never complained. He took 
dangers as they came without flinching. Everybody 
who came in contact with him admired him." 

On September nth Bentley wrote, "I am still very 
uncertain as to what I shall do next. But uncertainty 
is the main characteristic of the war. Everything is 
uncertain " Two days later during a gas at- 
tack, his loaded car was struck by a shell, as he drove 
through the barrage and Paul, in the words of his citation, 
"lui-mime tres grievement blesse, a continue a conduire 
jusqua Vepuisement de ses forces.'' At the hospital he 
rallied bravely for a time, then grew weaker, and died 
on September i6th. 

" Very few of the world's successful lives," says Merritt 
Starr, "attain such measure of ideals sacredly preserved, 
of danger bravely dared, of success so nobly achieved, 
of recognition so worthily won." 

"Bentley" writes a comrade, "was a true man. He 
died as he lived, bravely." And in the words of Paul's 
mother: "He helped. And knowing that he was con- 
tent." Later she added: "He earned eight diplomas 
in his life time, but his real graduation, his real com- 
mencement of immortal life, came on Sunday morning, 
September 16, 191 7." 



36 



DOUGLAS MacMONAGLE 

" I KNEW that Douglas MacMonagle would be among the 
first to get into the war on the French side." The 
speaker was a Calif ornian inquiring early in 191 6 at the 
Headquarters of the Field Service about the San Fran- 
ciscans at the front. 

"Mac," as his friends in the Field Service called him 
from the very first, had just been sent to join Section 
Three at the front in Alsace. It was in the dead of 
winter and there was some fear lest the new and inex- 
perienced men might not be able to cope in the beginning 
with the hardships and difficulties of the work. 

"MacMonagle," reported one of the directors of the 
Service, "wants to get to the front at once and refuses 
to give one thought to the idea that he will have any 
trouble doing the work. He says that he has been at 
sea and takes to rough weather like a duck to water, 
that he knows a Ford from the ground up, and that 
nothing the Germans can do to him matters at all." 

In every particular his self-confidence was justified. 
From the first he was able to face every hardship, 
whether of weather, bad and bombarded roads, or long 
hours. And above all, from the day he first came within 
sound of the guns to the moment he fell in gallant aerial 
combat against heavy odds, nothing that the Germans 
did or threatened to do to him "mattered at all." 

After serving for some months with Section Three 
MacMonagle was transferred to Section Eight. Austin 
Mason, his new chef, wrote in his diary at that time : 

"MacMonagle joined us on the eve of the hardest 
and most dangerous work the Section has had to face. 
That he had had some previous experience was a great 
help and he lived up to all our expectations. He was 
fearless and energetic and did his job well. There were 
four of us at Fort de Tavannes when the Germans began 
to demolish it with sixteen inch shells, and he was un- 
questionably the calmest. Rogers left amid such a 

2>7 



DOUGLAS MacMONAGLE 



rain of shells that It did not seem possible that he could 
get through. Then 'Mac' pulled out cool as could 
be " 

A month later MacMonagle was the first man in 
Section Eight to be awarded the Croix de Guerre. "All 
the doctors at our post" came back a report to Paris, 
"are loud in their praise of MacMonagle. With iron self- 
possession, he loaded his car during a bombardment that 
destroyed the building used as a dressing station." 

In September, 191 6, he left the Field Service to enlist 
in the French Aviation Corps. He was trained at 
Avord and Pau, where he quickly came to be admired 
by his new comrades for the same qualities which had 
distinguished him in the Field Service. When he fin- 
ished his training, in May, 191 7, he was considered a 
good enough pursuit pilot to be attached at once to the 
famous Lafayette Squadron. 

He flew steadily and with increasing success from the 
time he reached the front until he was brought down 
September 24, 191 7, while on an early-morning patrol, 
in a fierce fight with eight German planes. He fell 
behind the French lines and was buried at Triaucourt, 
the entire Lafayette Squadron and many French officers 
as well attending the funeral, a company of American 
engineers firing the last salute over his grave. 

Douglas MacMonagle was loved for his warmhearted- 
ness. He was admired for his fearlessness. He came 
early to the great struggle and he did good work ; but 
the value of his services to the cause in which he gave his 
life is to be measured by the courage which he so often 
inspired in others as well as by his own achievements. 



38 




DOUGLAS MacMONAGLE 

Born February 19, 1892, in San Francisco, California. Son of Beverly and 
Minnie C. MacMonagle. Educated Hackley School, Tarrytown, New 
York ; Berkeley School, California ; Switzerland and Germany ; and Uni- 
versity of California, one and one-half years. Class of 1917. Joined Ameri- 
can Field Service, December 30, 1915 ; attached Section Three to May 20, 
1916; Section Eight, June 20 to September 20, 1916. Croix de Guerre. 
Enlisted French Aviation, October 3, 1916. Trained Avord and Pau. At- 
tached Escadrille Ni24 (Lafayette). Killed in combat, September 24, 1917, 
near Verdun. Croix de Guerre with palm. Buried Triaucourt, Meuse. 
Body transferred to American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon 
Meuse. 




GERALD COLMAN KING 

Born November 22, 1878, in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Son of Brevet 
Lieutenant-Colonel Cornelius Low King. Educated St. Mark's School, 
Southboro, Massachusetts, and Pomfret School, Connecticut. U.S. Army, 
Spanish-American War, as volunteer. Joined American Field Service, 
February 14, 191 7; attached Section Eight. Invalided to United States, 
May, 1917. Died in hospital. New York City, September 27, 1917. Buried 
in Grace Church Cemetery, Jamaica, Long Island, New York. 



GERALD COLMAN KING 

To be obliged to fight the Spanish-American War as a 
bed-ridden fever patient, and then to end his effort in the 
World War on his back in a New York hospital, was the 
desolate lot of Gerald Colman King, volunteer in both of 
these wars. 

Although he was permitted to strike no direct blow in 
either instance, it is doubtful if he could have contributed 
more to the final victory, and to the development of his 
own character, than he did by his fortitude, his loyalty, 
and his unembittered acceptance of what fate had in 
store for him. A grumbling victory is in no way 
preferable to a cheerful defeat. 

Gerald King had his first taste of military service when 
he enlisted as a private in the American Army in the war 
against Spain in 1898. He was denied active service 
through contracting typhoid fever almost immediately,, 
and was confined at Camp Chickamauga. 

When America entered the War, King was too old to 
enlist in the regular army, so he chose at once the only 
other possible alternative for getting to France to aid 
that country for which he felt a very deep affection, 
fostered by blood ties. He enlisted with the American: 
Field Service. 

He had served with Section Eight at the front but 
little more than a month before he was taken seriously 
ill and sent to a hospital in Paris. In May he was 
invalided home to the United States. He was taken 
from the steamer direct to the hospital, where he died, 
September 27, 1917 — no less a victim of the cruelty of 
war than those who fell in the front line trenches. He 
lies now in the little graveyard of Christ Church, 
Jamaica, where, for many generations, the members of 
his family have been buried. 

Gerald King was born at Bellows Falls, Vermont^ 
November 22, 1878. He was the son of Brevet Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Cornelius Low King, and grandson of 

39 



GERALD COLMAN KING 



Charles King, former president of Columbia College. 
His mother was Janet De Kay, daughter of James De 
Kay — all of New York. 

The Brattleboro Reformer paid the following tribute 
to Gerald King on learning of his death : "The old boys 
of Company I of Brattleboro, who, in 1898, when war 
against Spain was declared, volunteered their services to 
their country, just as thousands of a younger generation 
have been doing in the past few months, feel a sense of 
personal loss in the death, in a New York hospital, of 
Gerald King of Bellows Falls. Gerald was a soldier of 
fortune, a scion of a distinguished military family. He 
was only a youngster when he went with the Brattleboro 
boys to the fever-infested camp at Chickamauga, but he 
was possessed of an independent income, and when his 
little 'pink' checks arrived, he shared his patrimony 
freely with his less fortunate comrades. 

"His good cheer and kindliness will always be remem- 
bered by those who were associated with him in the days 
-when the young soldiers waited and waited in unsanitary 
conditions for orders to active service which never came. 
In recent years King has been well-known as an actor, 
but he turned aside from the stage to go to France as an 
ambulance driver, and while there was stricken with 
paralysis, which terminated in death in a New York 
hospital after he had been brought back helpless to this 
country." 



40 



HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS, 30 

Descended from a line of military forebears dating back 
to the days of the War of Independence, Henry Harrison 
Cumings, 3d, felt the urge of service so strongly that he 
was one of the first young Americans to reach the front 
under the American flag. 

Highly sensitive to the outrages being perpetrated in 
France and Belgium, Cumings' enthusiastic and right- 
eous nature revolted against German aggression. In 
March, 1917, he joined the American Field Service and 
sailed for France, to drive an ambulance. 

When the United States entered the war, a call was 
made by France upon the ambulance service for volun- 
teers for a munitions transport branch. Cumings was 
one of the first amhulanciers to join the munitions 
transport service. A companion wrote at the time 
"Henry was to go to the front in a few days with Sec- 
tion Eighteen. The transport service was considered 
more of a man's job, more arduous, difficult, and 
dangerous, and certainly of much use to the French 
government. I soon saw that Henry had his heart set 
upon being identified with the latter service, and one 
day he spoke of wanting to change, so we both went to 
the office and got changed to T. M. U. 526." 

Cumings was in the American camion units that 
carried to the French batteries much of the amunition 
used in the long and grueling battle of the Chemin des 
Dames which culminated in the glorious French victory 
of the fall of 191 7. 

His enlistment expired in September, 191 7. Pre- 
viously Cumings had attempted to enroll in the French 
aviation forces. He was rejected because of poor eye- 
sight. Anxious to re-enlist then in the camion service, 
he agreed in deference to his mother's wishes to return 
to the United States, to rejoin the army on this side. 

Cumings, somewhat envied by overseas comrades, 
sailed from France on the ill-fated transport "Antilles." 

41 



HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS, 3d 



Three days out, early in the morning of October 17, 
191 7, the boat was torpedoed. It sank inside four 
minutes. Cumings was among those lost. 

His letters to his mother proved him a man of rare 
sensibilities, with an instinctive appreciation of all that 
is good and fine. Even from the war he took the good 
and left the dross. His duty he assumed as a matter 
of course, and apparently found ample compensation 
for the horrors and hardships in the satisfaction and joy 
he felt in contributing his share toward a just and early 
peace. 

Henry was a talented musician and a pianist of 
merit. "Music was a large part of Henry," says his 
mother. "It was his very being." Highly intellectual, 
and gifted with an unusually responsive nature, war 
was naturally repulsive to him. But never for a moment 
did he lose sight of the ideals behind it, which he was 
helping to defend. One of his close companions wrote 
to the mother : "From the beginning Henry always put 
all his energy into his work, always doing it well. As 
sergeant and later as commander of the section I have 
nothing but the highest praise for his work and for his 
attitude toward whatever hardships came his way. 
Our work was often hard and very trying, but he was 
one of those who never grumbled, but always showed 
that fine spirit which is so much needed over here." 

Henry Cumings was born June 20, 1897, at Tiona, 
Pennsylvania, of patriotic New England stock, his 
families on both sides having been represented in the 
War of Independence and every succeeding war in which 
this country has been engaged. He carried out the tra- 
dition of his house. 



42 




HENRY HARRISON CUMINGS, 3d 

Born June 20, 1897, in Tiona, Pennsylvania. Son of Henry H. and Bertha 
Pierce Cumings. Home, Philadelphia. Educated Buffalo High School, New 
York, University of Pennsylvania, and Temple University. Joined Ameri- 
can Field Service, May 26, 1917 ; attached Transport Section 526, to Sep- 
tember 27, 1917. Died at sea on torpedoed "Antilles," October 17, 1917. 
Body neA'er recovered. 




HENRY BREWSTER PALMER 

Born December 25, 1887, in Rochester, New York. Son of Mr. and Mrs. 
Charles H. Palmer. Home, New York City. Educated St. George's School, 
Newport, Rhode Island, and Harvard University, Class of 1910. Bond 
business. New York and San Francisco. Joined American Field Service, 
June 24, 1916 ; attached Section Three in France and the Balkans to May 
II, 1917. Croix de Guerre. Enlisted Lafayette Flying Corps, June 7, 1917. 
Trained and breveted, Avord. Died of pneumonia, November 12, 1917, at 
Pau. Buried Pau, Basses Pyrenees. 



HENRY BREWSTER PALMER 

"Henry was indeed a splendid type of young Ameri- 
can, — the kind we are proud to have French people 
see," wrote one of Henry Brewster Palmer's friends. 
Handsome, reserved, sensitive, he showed by every word 
and action his character and his breeding, and few who 
knew him failed to surrender to the charm of his per- 
sonality. His interests were many and varied. He 
loved music and travel and books, and was an ardent 
sportsman. At St. George's School and at Harvard he 
played every game, and after graduation he continued 
his athletic career at golf, riding, and particularly at 
mountain climbing. From its beginning in 1914 the 
war came closer to him than to most Americans, through 
his love and admiration of the French for whom he had a 
strong sense of kinship, and in 191 6 he welcomed the 
opportunity to enlist in the American Ambulance Field 
Service, aiding France, and at the same time satisfying 
his longing for adventure. He worked for several 
months at Pont-a-Mousson with Section Three, and 
when it was selected to go to Salonica he went joyfully 
along, glorying in the chance "to do something of value 
for France." "I know you want me to do my share," 
he wrote to his mother, "and you would undoubtedly 
be more desirous if you could only see the wonderful 
spirit and self-sacrifice which every French woman is 
showing in these terrible times." His next letters came 
from "the wilds of Serbia," — charming, intensely in- 
teresting letters, — written with much keenness of per- 
ception, and breadth of vision, and full of fine bits of 
description. He gave himself utterly to the exhausting 
work, made doubly difficult by the rough hilly country 
and the ever present fever, and his devotion was recog- 
nized by the award of the Croix de Guerre, " for cour- 
ageous action in removing wounded in the region of 
Monastir." 

In May 191 7 he returned to France in the Lafayette 

43 



HENRY BREWSTER PALMER 



Flying Corps. The history of the Lafayette Flying 
Corps says of his training : "Palmer was considered one 
of the most brilliant Bleriot pilots among the later group 
at Avord. A flyer by instinct, he had a delicacy of 
touch and precision of eye that were wonderful, and his 
landings, light as eiderdown, were a delight to watch." 
"Henry's record in the school was as nearly perfect as 

one can be," wrote a friend, " he never did the 

slightest damage to a machine." In the remarkably 
short time of three and one half months he received his 
hrevet and left Avord for Pau for final training. There 
on November 12, 191 7 he died of pneumonia and was 
buried with full military honors in a corner of the hillside 
cemetery overlooking the shining river, whence, on clear 
days, one can see the white and purple Pyrenees. 

Cyrus Chamberlain, who was with Henry at the time 
of his death, and who was killed two months later, 
wrote, "He was one of the best and cleanest of us all," 
and the tribute is eloquent of the way in which men 
thought and spoke of him. Charles Bernard Nordhoff 
trained with Henry and his appreciation is typical of 
the countless friends who wrote to his mother on learn- 
ing of his death: "Always unruffled, cool, steady, and 
courageous, he would certainly have made a name for 
himself had he lived to get to the front, and his loss 
means not alone a void in the circle of friends who loved 
and admired him, but the loss of a bold and skillful pilot 
to France." 



44 



ERIC ANDERSON FOWLER 

Eric Fowler joined Section Four In the summer of 1916 
and remained with It until July, 191 7, during the period 
of the Section's greatest activity and achievements. 
His share In its work and the place he made for himself 
In the hearts of many friends, as well as in the life of 
the Section as a whole, have been recorded In the fol- 
lowing extract from a diary kept by an older man who 
was much thrown with him at the front. 

"Eric," writes this friend, "furnished the bright colors 
to our background. No matter how dismal the outlook 
he was always on the crest of the wave. And how often 
did his heart-warming, merry laugh do us all a world of 
good ! Our men have all shown their courage at Marre, 
Cote 2^2, and Esnes. But Eric felt a contempt for the 
dangers of the service that was an Inspiration. Physi- 
cally he was a little giant and of extraordinary endurance. 
I remember one snowy night, when the road was lost to 
view, he dog- trotted as a path-finder in front of my car for 
four round trips between Montzevllle and Esnes. When, 
as happened more than once, I side-slipped Into a ditch, 
he would feed the blesse blankets under the spinning 
wheels and when I regained the road fearing to stop, 
he would overtake me, stow the blankets away and, with 
a boyish laugh and joke, resume his place in front of the 
car." 

When Eric Fowler left Section Four to enlist in the 
French aviation, he took with him the admiration and 
gratitude of his chief and the warm best wishes of every 
fellow driver. He completed his preliminary training at 
Avord with marked success and went on to Pau for 
advanced training In "stunt" flying. The sad circum- 
stances of his death, the day of his graduation, when his 
kit was packed and on Its way to the railway station, are 
related in a letter to his parents by Alan WInslow, a 
fellow student and dear friend. 

"I looked up," writes WInslow, "and saw one of the 

45 



ERIC ANDERSON FOWLER 



thirty or forty planes in the air diving out of control, 
nose downward behind a hangar. Then I heard the crash. 
Five mintes later I learned it was Eric Fowler and that 
he had been instantly killed. It was the last flight neces- 
sary to make him fit for the front, the finishing flight of 
five months training. 

''Poor, fine Eric, what a shame he could not have died 
in battle, if die he must ! But, as it is, his death is a 
glorious death, for he died in the pursuit of his work, his 
ideals, and his patriotism " 

Fowler was buried at Pau with all military honors and 
Captain Orgeaix, the French Commandant of the school, 
in a speech by his grave, paid a glowing tribute to his 
courage and devotion. "Corporal Fowler," he said, 
"your death has not been in vain. You have served to 
bring your country closer to the soul of France. When we 
think of you, our eyes will always moisten and our hearts 
grip our bosoms " 

Those who mourn Eric Fowler find an abiding comfort 
in the words of his friend's letter, and in this tribute of his 
commanding ofiicer : " His death was glorious. His death 
was not in vain. He died in the selfless quest of a noble 
end ; in the full measure of his proud youth." 

"Yet, O stricken heart, remember, O remember, / 

How of human days he lived the better part, 
April came to bloom, and never dim December 
Breathed its killing chills upon the head or heart." 



46 




ERIC ANDERSON FOWLER 

Born July 24, 1895, in Quogue, Long Island, New York. Son of Anderson 
and Emily Fowler. Home, New York City. Educated St. Bernard's School, 
New York ; Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania ; and Princeton University, 
Class of 1919. Joined American Field Service, August 6, 1916 ;Jattached 
Section Four until July 10, 191 7. Enlisted French aviation. Trained 
Avord and Pau. Promoted to Corporal. Killed in aeroplane accident, Pau, 
November 26, 1917. Buried Pau, Basses Pyrenees. 




ROBERT DOUGLAS MEACHAM 

Born September 15, 1883, in Ashland, Kentucky. Son of Daniel B. and 
Lida Douglas Meacham. Home, Cincinnati, Ohio. Educated Asheville 
School, North Carolina, Hobart College one year, and one year Sheffield 
Scientific School, Yale, Class of 1907. From 1906 with Rogers, Brown 
Company, Cincinnati. Joined American Field Service, March 12, 1917; 
attached Section Sixteen to September 13, 191 7. Died of appendicitis, 
December 14, 191 7, at Louisville, Kentucky. Buried Spring Grove Cem- 
etery, Cincinnati, Ohio. 



ROBERT DOUGLAS MEACHAM 

"" It's strange the way things work out in this war," 
Robert Douglas Meacham wrote home, "one of our 
Frenchmen had been in the army since the beginning, 
but being rather old was taken out of the trenches and 
sent back here, a comparatively safe place, as a cook. 
He had been here only two days before he was killed." 
"Bob" did not guess that for him, too, things were to 
work out thus strangely and with as seeming little jus- 
tice. He returned from ambulance work at the front 
to enter a more hazardous service, and, having passed 
his examinations for aviation, was on his way home 
from Washington to await his commission when he fell 
ill with appendicitis and died as a civilian — yet no less 
a warrior. He had been often under fire. "Believe 
me," he had written, "it is some sensation to be flat on 
your stomach wondering if the next one is going to ' get ' 
you"; but no shells "got" him. He had served six 
months with Section Sixteen suffering more than most 
because always in his mind was a vision of what a shell 
might bring — of being struck and mangled. Fear 
stood ever at his side vainly trying to influence him. He 
heard its urging but unmindful, went forward into all 
dangers. Yet the trail of his adventurous life ended far 
from the cannon and drums and banners of warfare in a 
city hospital and the silence of unsung heroism. Those 
who know fear are the bravest. 

"Bob," after his schooling in the South, spent a year 
at Hobart and one at Yale. He was an athlete, for love 
of the sport, and, as a freshman at Hobart, played on 

the varsity baseball team. " As plucky a 

fellow as ever played a game, never losing his head," 
they said of him. "Never an exceptional student," 
wrote his brother, and perhaps, in his belief that in 
friendships was one of the biggest gains from college, 
"Bob" overstressed that side of undergraduate life. 
But he made some very real and lasting friends. He was 

47 



ROBERT DOUGLAS MEACHAM 



"one of the most lovable fellows to be with I ever knew'^ 
writes one, "liked by everybody" says another, and "I 
know very few who are so much worth while." He was 
the object of hero-worship, too, on straight manliness 
as the words of a younger man show : " I was just a green 
youngster Bob's kindly nature and his clean- 
cut ways made me secretly idolize him." It means 
much to have a mother write, as one did who knew him 
well, " I wish my boy had known him." 

"With sufficient income he would never have entered 
business but spent his time with expeditions exploring 
buried cities of the old world," said his brother, and 
before the war "Bob" had already traveled in Europe, 
circled the globe, and made trips to Central America. 
He had gathered quite a library on Egypt and India, 
and an unusual collection of arms from various nations 
and ages. Imitations never interested him, and also 
in his contact with men "he had no respect for the sham, 
admiring only the true and genuine." Yet he was 
lenient to the faults of others, though never toward his 
own. He not only did his duty whenever called upon, 
but did it cheerfully, and at all times was to be relied 
upon to keep up the spirits of those about him. "Bob" 
had a delightful sense of humor, declaring the most seri- 
ous Poilu he knew was "going to be married when he goes 
on permission. Suppose that is what's worrying him." 
And with it he had a rare delicacy of perception and sym- 
pathy. " If I can only help save the lives of some of those 

poor fellows I shall feel that my own life has 

been worth while," he wrote. He never realized how 
much worth while his fineness had made that life of his 
for others. 



48 



ALDEN DAVISON 

Among all those "immortal dead who live again in minds 
made better by their presence ; live in pulses stirred to 
generosity, in deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn for 
miserable aims that end with self," there is none more 
worthy of such place and tribute than Alden Davison. 

The background for his war experiences speaks elo- 
quently of the type of man he was. In his four years at 
Phillips Academy, Andover, he participated in all 
phases of school activities, contributing to each the 
force of his fine idealism and the power of his person- 
ality. He was interested in foot-ball, track athletics, 
hockey, and soccer ; he was a member of the Student 
Council, the Dramatic Club, the Debating Union : he 
was President of Forum and of Inquiry, and President 
of his class. As a final acknowledgment of his influence, 
he was given the second largest number of votes for the 
man "who has done the most for the school." 

The Phillips Academy memorial volume does him this 
honor : "Alden Davison was one of those rare and mag- 
netic souls who secure without effort the affection of all 
who meet them. Few young men of his day were more 
versatile and adaptable. The ability which won him 
his many distinctions was, of course, admired; but it 
was more especially his fine and upright character that 
made him a leader. He could be trusted always to cast 
his influence where it would count for good, and there was 
no worthy cause which did not have his si^pport." 

In 1 91 6 he enlisted in the Amercan Field Service, and 
during his six months service with Section Eight, in the 
Verdun Sector, he was cited three times for bravery, 
and once he suffered the distinction of having his ambu- 
lance blown out from under him. 

At the expiration of his enlistment he was obliged to 
return to the United States, being taken seriously ill 
with typhoid fever. It was a grievous disappointment 
to him, as he was eager to enlist in the Lafayette Es- 

49 



ALDEN DAVISON 



quadrille. In the autumn of 191 7 he had recovered 
sufficiently to enter the aviation service, and was sent to 
Camp Hicks, Texas, for his training, in the 27th Aero 
Squadron. There, on December 26th, the day before 
he received his commission as Lieutenant, he was killed 
in a practice flight. 

The instructor of his squadron wrote:" — I would 
cheerfully give half of my life if he were here safely to- 
night. He is the nearest to one of God's children I ever 
knew, and is mourned most deeply here, for every one 
was so fond of him. He was a man's man, and nothing 
can be said higher in praise than that." 

"Resolute, clear-eyed, high-minded," to quote the 
Phillips Academy volume further, "he made his ideals 
the guiding principles of his life. For him duty was 
something more than a mere word, and loyalty was 
naught unless it was revealed in sacrifice." 

Upon his death, the Board of Directors of the Rail 
Joint Company, with which he had been associated in 
business, had engraved and bound in morocco, a very 
beautiful memorial volume to him, whose preface was as 
follows : "Resolved, that the Board of Directors desires 
to express its deep regret at the loss of Alden Davison, 
who, in the service of this Company showed the same 
high spirit which prompted his ready and unselfish re- 
sponse to the call of his Country." 

In work and play, war and peace, Alden Davison in- 
spired the love and devotion of all with whom he was 
associated. Brief though his career, it represented years 
crowded with high purpose and accomplishment. Truly 
indeed, 

"He went through life sowing love and kindness, and 
what he sowed he has abundantly reaped." 



50 




ALDEN DAVISON 
Born July 6, 1895, in New York City. Son of Henry J. and Maria Alden 
Davison. Educated Phillips Academy, Andover, and Yale University, 
Class of 1919. Joined American Field Service, February 28, 1916 ; attached 
Section Eight until September 6, 1916. Sent to America ill with typhoid 
fever. September 4, iQi?, entered U. S. Aviation Service. Cadet, 27th 
Aero Squadron, Camp Hicks, Texas. Killed December 26, 191 7, »n aero- 
plane accident. Buried Kensico Cemetery, New York. 




GORDON STEWART 

Born March 15, 1896, in Millis, Massachusetts. Son of Edward J. and 
Helena Felt Stewart. Home, Brookline, Massachusetts. Educated Brook- 
line High School, Chauncy Hall School, Boston, and Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology, Class of 1920. Joined American Field Service, April 
14, 1917; attached Section Eighteen to October 15, 1917. Enlisted U.S. 
Aviation Service. Trained, Tours, France. Died January 9, 1918, of spinal 
meningitis. Buried Tours, Indre-et-Loire. 



GORDON STEWART 

Gordon Stewart, during his school days, was well 
known through his athletic ability. Both at Brookline 
High School and Chauncy Hall School he was prominent 
in various branches of sport and was captain of the 
Brookline crew in 191 5 when the crew won the inter- 
scholastic cup. He won two medals from the Harvard 
Interscholastic Gymnasium Association and held the 
Greater Boston diving championship for two years. 
At the time of his enlistment in the Field Service he was a 
student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Referring to his well-deserved prominence during his 
school days, his pastor writes of him : "Gordon was one 
of the few young men of my town who, being popular, 
yet was never conscious of his popularity. That humil- 
ity in conjunction with his courage and daring and won- 
derful wealth of humor made him the idol of all." 

With his brother Theodore he sailed for France on the 
first boat to leave after war was declared by the United 
States, and saw much hard work during the summer 
around Verdun with Section Eighteen, which was 
honored by a citation for the Croix de Guerre from the 
126th Division. He had the misfortune to break his 
arm shortly after joining the Section, and was laid up 
for over two months in a French hospital with a very bad 
fracture necessitating several operations and much suf- 
fering, as the bone was not set until three days after the 
accident, and did not knit properly. Writing from the 
hospital of an impending operation, he unconsciously 
gives us a clear idea of his courage and nerve : "Expect 
it will be a bit painful, but guess I can keep up my record 
of not having let out a ' peep ' since it happened." What 
seems to have been harder to endure than the pain was 
his longing to get into the thick of things again. He 
remarks a little later : "I am trying to get over my de- 
sire to go back to the front, or at least I am trying to be 
contented, although the letters Theo writes me are like 

51 



GORDON STEWART 



a full dish of cold water held in front of a man who is 
dying of thirst. I just itch to get back and can't." 

Afterwards upon returning from ten days' convalescent 
leave in September, he writes: "While in Paris I took 
mental and physical examinations for a commission in 
the Army Flying Corps. I passed both with flying 
colors so that at the end of my training I will be a first 
lieutenant in the Flying Corps. It has been terribly 
hard to decide but I have made up my mind to serve my 
country to the last stitch." 

He was sent in October to the Aviation Training 
School at Tours where he was taken sick Christmas 
night, and died on January 9, 1 91 8, of spinal menin- 
gitis. As to his work as a cadet, one of his friends at the 
school exclaimed: "The French instructors here had 
already told me, before Gordon was taken sick at all, 
that he was the most promising pupil they had ever had. 
His own instructor wept when told of his death, not 
wholly for Gordon, as he said, but for the loss to the 
Allies." 

Had Gordon Stewart lived to return to the front as an 
aviator, he would have proved of inestimable value to 
his country, as he possessed in every respect the qual- 
ities necessary for the branch of service which he had 
chosen. Yet dying as he did, he gave his life for his 
country's cause as truly and completely as though he 
had been shot down in battle by an enemy plane. 



52 



ERNEST HUNNEWELL LEACH 

Soon after the war broke out, and while Ernest Leach 
was still but a lad in his teens, he faced for himself the 
issues at stake and decided that the cause of France was 
the cause of right and humanity. His financial condition 
was all that prevented his leaving for France. Mean- 
while he did what he could. He foresaw that America 
must sooner or later enter the struggle, and resolved that 
he and his friends should be ready when the call came. 
In his quiet way Ernest got together a group of his 
companions and induced them to join him in regular 
cross-country hikes after business hours and on Sundays 
to keep themselves in good physical condition. Often 
their courage lagged and it was always he who spurred 
them on, and though they thought him too enthusiastic, 
they followed him nevertheless. To further prepare him- 
self he took the regular course in infantry training at 
Plattsburg in the summer of 191 6. 

The hard work which Section Eighteen was called 
upon to do during the summer of 1917 around Verdun, 
and for which they received a divisional citation for the 
Croix de Guerre, only served to deepen his sense of duty 
and responsibility in the cause which he had always cher- 
ished, and for which he had long been preparing. He 
writes at this time : "Any vain curiosity that I may have 
had regarding war is quite dispelled ; war at its best is 
very bad. But I am glad the United States is going to 

do her part to end it, and in the right way 

Whichever way things turn out, I won't lose. There are 
worse things than losing your life in the best cause a 
nation ever had." 

For all his serious purpose, however, he had a lively 
sense of humor and a buoyant youthfulness that kept 
him cheerful. Ernest wrote: "One of the chief reasons, 
— outside the joy of living, — for my wishing to live 
through this war is to see how it ends." 

With the breaking up of the old volunteer Ambulance 

53 



ERNEST HUNNEWELL LEACH 



Service came the heartbreaking uncertainty as to where 
the greatest possibility for service lay. How he decided 
the issue, an extract from one of his letters shows: "It 
took all my will power to pick aviation as my service 
branch after I had seen a number of planes brought 
down in air fights and seen the results at close range. 
But I feel that if anything were going to happen to me it 
would happen just the same in one service as another. 
At least you can feel here as though you were doing your 
full part." 

And it was his full part that Leach did. To the long 
task of training he gave himself with the same resolute 
devotion which had already characterized his work at the 
front. The cablegram announcing his death in an aero- 
plane accident, January 21, 191 8, also stated that he had 
completed in two weeks a test which usually required a 
month, and that he was about to be commissioned. 

The spirit in which he met his death for that cause 
which had long since become a part of his very soul, is 
suggested by his own words in a letter written but a short 
time before : "If I don't come back, please remember 
that I do this willingly and gladly. I feel that the cause is 
worth all of me." 

That he was loved by his comrades is shown clearly by 
the cry of sorrow in a little poem written by Lieutenant 
Gilbert N. Jerome, of the Air Service, who was killed in 
battle in July, 1918. The loss of a brother in arms is felt 
poignantly in the words : 

" 'T is but a moment since he stood 

Here in our .little group 
And smiled and spoke, 
A moment's flight, and then 

He passes through the gate 
That bars our view, 

Leaving us desolate." 



54 




ERNEST HUNNEWELL LEACH 

Born November 4, 1895, at Hanson, Massachusetts. Son of Reverend A. 
Judson and Mary Lewis Leach. Educated Reading, Massachusetts, public 
schools. With First National Bank of Reading, seven years. Joined Ameri- 
can Field Service, April 14, 191 7 ; attached Section Eighteen to September 
23, 1917. Enlisted U. S. Aviation Service, October, 1917. Breveted at 
Tours. Killed January 21, 1918, at the 3d Aero Instruction Centre, Issou- 
dun, in an aeroplane accident. Buried Issoudun, Indre. 




JACK MORRIS WRIGHT 

Born July 9, 1898, in New York City. Son of Charles Lennox and Sarah 
Greene Wright. Educated I'Ecole Alsacienne, Paris, and Phillips Acad- 
emy, Andover, Massachusetts, Class of 191 7. Joined American Field Ser- 
vice, April 28, 1917; attached Transport Section 526 to August 16, 1917. 
Enlisted U. S. Aviation Service. Trained at Issoudun. Commissioned First 
Lieutenant. Killed January 24, 1918, in aeroplane accident at Issoudun. 
Buried Military Cemetery, Issoudun, Indre. 



JACK MORRIS WRIGHT 

"One glorious hour of crowded life, 
Is worth an age without a name." 

Jack Wright, First Lieutenant in aviation, was only 
nineteen when killed in training. His little hour was so 
fleeting, but oh, so gloriously full. Any tribute of words 
to his memory seems pitifully inadequate. His life, his 
death, his letters, now compiled in a volume, "A Poet of 
the Air," and the inspiration of his philosophy, consti- 
tute a memorial which outshines any amplification of this 
writing. 

For Jack Wright was not an ordinary individual. He 
was an artist, — a genius, who lived above and beyond 
the commonplace. By temperament he was well fitted for 
service in the air. His nature was naturally ecstatic, — 
soaring, — reaching out, and above. The wonder and 
glory of flying was always fresh to him. "It became akin 
to some divine privilege." 

This poet felt a call and sacred duty to write of flying. 
"So far there has been a soldier poet, a poet of the woods, 
a poet of all," he wrote, "but as yet there has been no 
poet of the air, — the wonderlands unknown, unfelt, 
unseen, but ever worshiped as God's own ground, or as 
the symbols of the highest soarings of men." 

It is difficult to reconcile a genius and artistry such as 
his with war. Yet it was just such exalted vision and liv- 
ing idealism, contagious to a high degree, which redeemed 
the war, with all its cruelty. With his death, Jack Wright 
ceases to become an individual. He becomes a symbol, — 
a symbol of all the youth, and hope, enthusiasm, and 
idealism, which poured itself out in the blood and deeds 
of every man who sacrificed his all in the past war. He 
becomes man's ideal of his truest self, realized.^ 

The following was written in explanation to his mother, 
while he was still in the Camion Service, waiting to be 
transferred to the Aviation, for which he had just passed 
his examinations. 

55 



JACK MORRIS WRIGHT 



"There are many reasons for my new action 

The choice between America and Peace, or France and 
War ; the desire to be ' one of them ' over here, and to 
feel worthy of France's beauty and her people's sym- 
pathy ; the desire to be able to say with pride that I had 
done something real in the greatest of all struggles ; the 
horror of shirking when boys like me are dying ; the thou- 
sand and one other minor reasons, that turn by turn as- 
sail me more strongly ever day." 

In another letter we sense that which actuated all his 
life : " If I could give my life to make a bit of idealism 
perfect itself, and live immortal on a mortal world, it 
would be the highest hope I could attain and the great- 
est happiness I could enjoy. If I were to live lukewarmly 
and die weakly, it would be the greatest tragedy I or any 
human could suffer." 

Jack Wright was an American boy of nineteen. He was 
horn in New York City. When a small child he was taken 
to France, where he remained until the outbreak of the 
ivar. He was educated in French schools. His playmates 
"were the children of the artists and poets of France. 
When he left America with the ambulance unit he had 
spent three years in Andover, and was about to enter 
Harvard. 

He spent six months at the front as driver of a camion, 
and three months learning to fly in the First American 
Aviation School in France. He had just received his 
commission as First Lieutenant, and would undoubtedly 
have been sent to the front in a few weeks time, — the 
goal of his ambition, when his plane met with an acci- 
dent while in the air, which ended his short hour. 



56 



PHILIP PHILLIPS BENNEY 

Philip Phillips Benney combined with his enthusiasm 
a special aptitude for flying which led his commander to 
write that he had "rarely seen in a pilote the qualities of 
courage, enterprise, and daring that he possessed." 
But it was his likable personality that most impressed 
"Phil's" comrades — that and his courage. "A braver, 
finer, and more lovable boy never lived. He seemed to 
make friends no matter where he was," wrote R. B. 
Hoeber, of Escadrille 103, and gives a suggestion of 
"Phil's" character and ability when he says : "Phil was 
the best friend I had over here, — we had been through 
all the schools together, where he was extremely popular 
and did ripping good work. Then finally when he got out 
here he was so happy, and, while he had a good deal of 
hard luck with his machines, he was flying beautifully." 
Captain d'lndy helps on the description saying that 
"Phil" "from his arrival won every heart by his intelli- 
gence and sincere good-fellowship," and his uncle tells 
how the same French officer "spoke several times of 
Philip's wonderful courage and what a great loss it was 

because of the fact that he was loved by them 

all," and himself adds, " No one could help loving him, he 
was so frank, charming, and brave." 

Having spent six years at Shady Side Academy, Philip 
entered the automobile business as a salesman, gaining 
experience there which led, when he was recommended 
for a reserve commission, after his summer of 19 16 on a 
battleship with the volunteer civilian cruise, to the re- 
mark that he was especially proficient in engineering. 
The spirit which later caused "Phil" to enter hazardous 
chasse work made it impossible for him to sit at home 
while France battled for her existence and in January, 
1917, he gave up his business and sailed for France. He 
went to the front with Section Twelve of the Field Ser- 
vice, but despite his excellent record and friendships 
made, he was not satisfied, and when America entered the 

57 



PHILIP PHILLIPS BENNEY 



war he waited only until his term of enlistment was ended 
before joining the Foreign Legion as a private and then 
transferring to aviation. 

He entered into the training for a chasse pilote eagerly, 
saying that his eleven days of acrobatics at Pau "were 
the most wonderful days of my life," and speaking of the 
splendid flying days when he "worked like a dog, flying 
an average of five hours a day." His zest was unbounded 
and his happiness in service shone from his letters, while 
he had also a keen eye for the beautiful and was sensi- 
tive to the wonders of flying. 

He joined Spad Escadrille 67 where, his officer said, 
"So ardent was he that I had long delayed the moment 
of sending him against the enemy, fearing a little too 
much audacity and too little experience." On January 
25, 191.8, with four other planes, "Phil" went on his first 
combat patrol. As they circled over Montfaucon seven 
Germans attacked, centering their fire on "Phil." Badly 
wounded and rapidly losing strength, he managed to land 
his machine within the French lines. He was hurried to 
the hospital at Glorleux, where two Frenchmen gave 
some blood in an effort to save him, but he died in the 
early morning. "How could I do less than give him a 
few drops of my blood," said one, "when he had given all 
of his for France ?" No words could more finely charac- 
terize Philip Benney than those of his French chief : 
"The poor little boy was worshiped in the squadron and 
admired by all because he was such a splendid soldier and 
of such a magnificent courage. He fell nobly, beauti- 
fully, facing the enemy in a real fight. Perhaps he envied 
such a death for a long time." 



58 




PHILIP PHILLIPS BENNEY 

Born June 28, 1895, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Son of George Andrew 
and Eugenia Hill Benney. Educated Shady Side Academy, Pittsburgh. 
Volunteer civilian cruise, U. S. Navy, 1916. Joined American Field Serv- 
ice, January 8, 191 7 ; attached Section Twelve until July 11, 191 7. Enlisted 
French Aviation. Trained, Avord, Pau, and le Plessis-Belleville. Caporal 
pilote, Spad Escadrille 67. Died at hospital of Glorieux, January 26, 
1918, of wounds received in combat over Montfaucon the previous day, 
Croix de Guerre with Palm. Buried, Glorieux, Meuse. 




CHARLES ALEXANDER HOPKINS 

Born October 24, 1895, in Newark, New Jersey. Son of John M. and Mary 
Carroll Hopkins. Educated Newark public schools, Barringer High School, 
and Dartmouth College, Class of 1920. Joined American Field Service, 
May 5, 1917 ; attached Camion Sections 526 and 184 until August 6, 1917. 
Enlisted U. S. Aviation. Killed in aeroplane collision at 3d Aviation In- 
struction Centre, Issoudun, January 30, 1918. Commission received after 
his death. Buried Issoudun, Indre. Body transferred to Fairmount Ceme- 
tery, Newark, New Jersey. 



CHARLES ALEXANDER HOPKINS 

Upon reaching France and finding that men were being 
sought for the aviation service, Charles Alexander Hop- 
kins at once gave in his name as an applicant for a place 
in the flying forces, writing that he "could not resist when 
he saw 'Old Glory' beckoning." While waiting to be 
called, however, he served, for three months, ably and 
faithfully as a truck driver in the Reserve Mallet. He 
was not going to sit idle, waiting, while there was work 
to do. Certainly those who knew him best were proudly 
confident that, however hard it promised to be, if the 
way seemed that of duty, "Charley" would follow it. 
And he did. One of his teachers had said : "He is a type 
France and America and England will be proud of," and 
his record to the very end strengthens the force of the 
statement and proves it true ! 

Charles Hopkins was a prominent school boy athlete, 
yet the publicity had no effect on his sincere simplicity, 
and he held high place in the hearts of his comrades for 
the fine qualities of his nature rather than because of his 
prowess in sports. In the words of his football coach, 
"There was a boy who could spread sunshine most any- 
where" ; and praise as a man came before praise of him 
as an athlete. "Charley" held on to his perspective of 
values in life. With him friendship stood high and he 
made much of it. "We sure do miss him," says a college 
acquaintance, and the pastor of his church says : " * Char- 
ley ' was an ideal boy." His circle of friends was large, his 
interests varied, and his friendship was Valued. In 
Newark "Hopkins Place" is named in memory of him, 
and, quoting a friend, "Everybody had a good word for 
'Hoppie,' and he surely deserved all the praise that was 
ever given him. To put everything in a nutshell, his per- 
sonality was wonderful." 

At Dartmouth "Hoppie's" reputation had preceded 
him, but again he kept his head, and although he became 
a track and football "star" he never let athletics monop- 

59 



CHARLES ALEXANDER HOPKINS 



olize his attention. He was not a brilliant scholar but his 
instructor in English found in his conscientiousness and 
diligence something more to be valued than cleverness : 
"With considerable expenditure of hard work he has 
maintained at least a passing grade. He is not talented 
in facile expression, but his brain is alert and steady ; he 
can give answers intelligently and render sound judg- 
ment in emergency." Had he remained at college "he 
would undoubtedly have been one of the best ends and 
quarter-milers that ever came to Dartmouth," wrote a 
classmate. A professor remarks that "he played hard 
football without malice, but rather in the wholesome 
spirit of the game," and Gerald Stone, of his class, said : 
" He was a true friend, a loyal brother, and had a heart of 
gold, which accounts for the fact that he was one of the 
best liked men in his class." 

In the autumn of 191 7 Charles began training at 
Issoudun as a cadet in avia^tion. He proved an able pilot, 
although he was painfully injured in an accident in De- 
cember, which he describes casually enough: "I must 
have been making ninety miles an hour and was thirty 
feet from the ground when the wind caught my tail, 
whipped it around, and I dove straight for the ground 
with the speed of a demon. The machine was out of 
control and there was nothing to do but sit tight and 
wait." 

On January 30, 1918, while flying at Issoudun, Charles 
collided with another plane, "crashed," and was killed. 
Lieutenant Cooper of the Air Service wrote that he "was 
always an excellent flyer, cool and courageous ; he met 
his death like a true American, and as every aviator 
would wish to meet it, in the air." 



60 



NEWBERRY HOLBROOK 

"Of all the adjectives that might be used to describe 
'Berry' Holbrook, the one that most of his intimate 
friends and classmates would agree upon, would be 'de- 
pendable.' But he was far more than merely dependable. 
He was a gentleman in all that the word implies, gentle 
yet manly, courteous and conciliatory, but firm in stand- 
ing up for what he conceived to be right. He was imbued 
with a high sense of duty, particularly as regards public 
matters which mainy of us so often neglect. He was am- 
bitious, but not for himself, for no man could have been 
less selfish than he. It was characteristic of him to say 
nothing if he could not speak well of a person." 

In the above quotation from one of his classmates, 
Newberry Holbrook stands out as a man who was eager 
and willing to assume his obligations to the world and to 
his fellows but, more important yet, who was endowed 
with the fineness and sensitiveness necessary to the car- 
rying out of these obligations without in any way an- 
tagonizing those whom he would serve. Not that he 
shrank from making enemies if it were in a just cause — 
he was always fearless where his principles were at stake 
— but his were the qualities which of themselves inspire 
love and respect. 

As an undergraduate at Columbia University and 
later when connected with the Phillips Chemical Com- 
pany, he was known not only for his strict application to 
whatever task he had at hand, but also for a breadth of 
vision at once practical and idealistic. It was but nat- 
ural that, with the organization in June, 1917, of the 
ambulance unit sent over by the City Club of New York, 
in which he was an active member, he should have been 
one of the first to volunteer as a driver, and should have 
been the man chosen to handle the complicated financial 
relations between the unit and the Club. 

As a driver and subsequently as sergeant in Section 
Thirty-two, later Six forty-four, he gave himself with an 

61 



NEWBERRY HOLBROOK 



energy and courage rare even in the ranks of volunteers. 
One of his comrades writes : " He was probably the most 
popular and the best liked man in the entire section, and 
by his devotion to duty, his unfailing patience and kind- 
ness had endeared himself to each one of us." 

For work at Verdun during the latter days of Novem- 
ber, 191 7, he was cited for the Croix de Guerre by the 
37th Division of Infantry with which the Section was 
serving. Of the character of the work which he did the 
following extract from a letter written by his lieutenant 
is sufficient proof : "Ever since the section left Paris last 
August, Newberry, or 'Berry,' as he was affectionately 
known to all of us, has been my right hand man. He was 
one of the best drivers, brave, cool, and intelligent. And 
in our first difficult engagement he actually made more 
trips, and brought down more wounded than any other 
man in the section. Personally, I have lost a very true 
friend ; as his commanding officer, I have lost one of my 
most valued assistants." 

He died on February 16, 19 18, at Essey-les-Nancy, of 
typhoid fever, having refused to leave the section and go 
to a hospital until but a few days before his death. He 
gave his life as a soldier for the cause of his country and 
his fellowmen, nor was his sacrifice in vain. For as one of 
these fellowmen who knew him well has written : " In his 
death he still lives with us in his quiet, devoted, and un- 
assuming friendship. His dignity and his quality of ready 
and faithful service to all he held dear will ever be an 
inspiration that we may the better 'Carry on.'" 



62 




..^^S5::«p^, 



r^-?^r^^. \ \- 






f V 



NEWBERRY HOLBROOK 

Born November 4, 1888, in Brooklyn, New York. Son of Francis N. and 
Julia Macy Holbrook. Home, New York City. Educated Morris High 
School, and Columbia University, Class of 191 1. In business, Charles H. 
Phillips Chemical Company. Joined American Field Service, June 30, 
191 7 ; attached Section Thirty-two. Enlisted U. S. Army Ambulance Ser- 
vice, September 22, 1917. Promoted to Sergeant. Croix de Guerre. Died, 
February 16, i9i8,of typhoid fever, Essey-les- Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle. 
Buried Essey-les-Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle. Body to be transferred to 
Woodlawn Cemetery, New York. 




WILLIAM JEWELL WHYTE 

Born October 25, 1897, in Danville, Illinois. Son of George W. and Laura 
Hoar Whyte. Educated Danville High School and University of Chicago, 
Class of 1919. Joined American Field Service, April 14, 1917; attached 
Transport Section 526, until August 28, 19 17. Enlisted in French Aviation. 
Trained at Avord and Pau. Killed in aeroplane accident, March 20, 1918, 
near Bordeaux. Buried Bordeaux, Gironde. 



WILLIAM JEWELL WHYTE 

On March 20, 191 8, the University of Chicago lowered 
its flag sorrowfully to half-mast, honoring the death of 
William Jewell Whyte, her first regular undergraduate to 
give his life in France. Just as he was completing his 
training in aviation, Whyte met with an accident. His 
machine fell, like a wounded bird with a broken wing, 
from an altitude of 6,000 feet, William "fighting gamely 
all the way down," his instructor reported. But the odds 
were too great, and he now lies buried in Bordeaux, among 
as glorious an assemblage as the world has ever known. 

"Personally," writes his guardian, "there never was a 
finer lad. One could say nothing but good of him in any 
event, but it is especially gratifying to be able to say that 
he was always clean, courageous, and manly. He was 
large, physically, always interested in athletics, and was 
always popular among his associates." 

Young Whyte graduated from high school at Danville, 
Illinois, and in 191 5 entered the University of Chicago, 
where he was on the regular football squad. He was in his 
sophomore year when he enlisted in the American Field 
Service. At the end of his six month's enlistment, when 
this service was taken over by the regular army organiza- 
tion, he transferred to aviation, where he was a private 
in the Lafayette Escadrille. He was keenly interested in 
his work, and, shortly before his death, wrote to a friend 
as follows : "Flying is going as well as ever. I am nearly 
finished with my last advanced training and am expect- 
ing orders now any time. Before I can receive any really 
active orders, I shall have to receive my commission. 
Through some error I received appointment as a second 
lieutenant, and didn't accept it as I am entitled to a first. 
This was in January, and the government has been all 
this time trying to rectify the mistake and grant a new 
commission." He goes on to tell of having one cheek 
frozen through, on a high altitude test, and comments 
laconically, "They tell me I am living on borrowed time. 

63 



WILLIAM JEWELL WHYTE 



But I think, don't you, that I have a long time loan." 

This same disregard of death, as long as it be so hon- 
orable a death, is clearly reflected in a^n article on Whyte, 
written by a classmate and fellow ambulancier. 

"On the campus many of you knew him better than 
I. From the most fortunate of you — those who knew 
him as a Fraternity brother in Delta Tau Delta, as a 
member of Skull and Crescent, or on the foot-ball team, 
— he won undying respect and friendship. Like you, I 
too came to count Jewell as one of my dearest friends. 
Last April he and I left the University to become am- 
bulance drivers in the French Army. For three weeks we 
were together, then bad luck separated us, sending him 
to one section of the front and me to another. 

"After that we saw nothing of each other until one 
September afternoon during my furlough, when, out of 
the cosmopolitan crowd passing the Cafe de la Paix in 

Paris, I caught sight of Jewell That evening we 

dined together in an out-of-the-way cafe. Next morning 
he was leaving for Avord to train for aviation, and I was 

returning to Verdun As we parted, I said, 'Well, 

Jewell, bonne chance, and I'll see you later at the Uni- 
versity or in Berlin.' 

"'I hope so,' he answered. 'But not many of us come 
back from the Suicide Club. But why worry? There 
never was a time when it was as easy to die as it is now.' 

"Those, I think, were the last words he ever spoke to 
any one from the University, And now, over a green spot 
in France, stands a white cross with the inscription : 



' Mort pour la France 

William Whyte, 
Americain, Aviateur.'" 



64 



PERCY LEO AVARD 

With spring of the first year of the World War, Percy Leo 
Avard felt he must share, however humbly, in that su- 
preme effort which all France was making and he deter- 
mined to join the American Ambulance Field Service 
To the objections of his brother, Reverend A. J. Avard, 
he responded : "You've given your life to the service of 
God, why should n't I give mine to help His people?" 
In June, 191 5, his employer wrote in his excellent letter 
of recommendation: "Mr. Avard is not an adventurer 

looking for new thrills I cannot understand his 

attitude in that he should give up his work and his fam- 
ily ties to spend an indefinite part of his life in this sac- 
rifice." But those who knew "Pete" Avard best under- 
stood : his spirit was one of service, his fine ideals were of 
action as well as thought. 

To "Pete" existence was an amazingly interesting 
thing, exhilarating, zestful. "We only live once," he 
said, and in that span he wished to see as much of the 
world and know as many of its human beings as he could. 
He traveled far, eager to know life, and always he was 
well liked and made staunch friends. "Pete" was, as an- 
other has described him, "the very salt of the earth." 

Although born in England, "Pete" always considered 
himself entirely American for all his youth was passed in 
New York. Upon leaving high school he worked with 
The New York Central Railroad until 1904. Then, in- 
terested in mining, young Avard went west, returning in 
1909 for his brother's ordination. 

He was in the State National Guard, but his real mili- 
tary career began in September of 19 10 at Fort Slocum,, 
New York, when he enlisted as a private in the regular 
cavalry. With troop "I" of the 5th Regiment, he went 
to Honolulu, returning for further service on the Mexican 
Border. He was an excellent soldier and a crack shot, and 
in the troop he had a horse which he had "broken" him- 
self, and which no one else could ride. At the expiration 

65 



PERCY LEO AVARD 



of his enlistment period in 1913, at Fort Huachuca, 
Arizona, he secured his honorable discharge with high 
commendation, although told he would be commissioned 
if he remained in the army. 

For nearly two years in New York he was in the credit 
department of the Grolier Society, leaving it in June, 
191 5, to join the American Field Service in France. 
After several weeks of active work with the Paris Squad, 
^'Pete" was with Section One in Flanders. From Crom- 
beke to Beauvais and to the Somme, then in June, 191 6, 
to Verdun, the Section labored, "Pete" setting an ex- 
ample by his tender care of his wounded. 

After a year's service he returned to the United States, 
going almost at once to the Chuquicamata Copper Mine 
in South America under a three year contract with the 
Chile Exploration Company, but within the year Amer- 
ica joined the Allies, and " Pete" gave up all his plans to 
return and enlist in naval aviation. At the training sta- 
tion because of his experience he was made a petty officer. 
Hardly a month later he was taken ill with pneumonia at 
Charleston, South Carolina. He knew he was sick but 
not how seriously, and to save his mother from anxiety 
at not hearing from him, "Pete" had a nurse write that 
he had hurt his finger playing baseball and would be un- 
able to write home for some time. That was the day be- 
fore he died. 

Sincere, sympathetic, and unassuming, this boy had 
lived his life as a fine adventure in idealism. He sought 
no favors or advancements, he accepted the world as a 
friend, and seeking to serve it made his life a record of 
true sacrifice and faith. A gallant soldier, who joined to 
the strength of a man the gentle naturalness and enthu- 
siasms of a child. 



66 




PERCY LEO AVARD 

Born April 12, 1887, in London, England. Son of Alfred J, and Margaret 
O'Brien Avard. Home, New York City. Educated New York public and 
high schools. Clerk, New York Central Railroad to 1904. California and 
Arizona, mining. Came East, 1909. New York National Guard. Enlisted 
United States Army, September 26, 1910, Fort Slocum, New York; at- 
tached 5th Cavalry, Troop I ; served Honolulu, Hawaii, and Mexican Bor- 
der. Promoted to corporal and sergeant. Honorably discharged, Septem- 
ber 27, 1913, Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Credit Department, Grolier Society, 
New York. Joined American Field Service, July 31, 1915; attached Sec~ 
tion One, to July 15, 1916. Returned to America. Mining with Chile Ex- 
ploration Company, Chuquicamata Mine, nine months. Enlisted NavaJ 
Aviation, New York City. Naval Training Station, Charleston, South 
Carolina. Petty Officer. Died of pneumonia, March 26, 1918, Naval Hos- 
pital, Charleston. Buried in Calvary Cemetery, Long Island. 







HENRY H. HOUSTON WOODWARD 

Born February 27, 1896, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Son of Dr. George 
and Gertrude H. Woodward. Educated Taft School, Connecticut, and 
Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, Class of 1920. Yale Battery, 
Tobyhanna, 1916. Joined American Field Service, February 19, 1917; at- 
tached Section Thirteen until July 23, 191 7. Enlisted French Aviation, 
July 24th. Trained Avord, Juvisy, and Pau. Breveted October i, 191 7. 
Caporal Pilote, Spad Escadrille 94, December. Killed in action, April i, 
1918, near Montdidier. Croix de Guerre. Buried south of Montdidier, 
Somme. 



HENRY H. HOUSTON WOODWARD 

Henry H. Houston Woodward, Caporal Pilote, Es- 
cadrille Spad Q4, of the French Army was killed in com- 
bat, April I, 191 8. Having been sent out to patrol the 
enemy's lines on the afternoon of that day, he was seen 
several times by other members of the patrol during an 
attack made on some German planes, then disappeared. 
It was almost a year later that the remains of his charred 
Spad were located about three kilometers south of Mont- 
didier, with a lone grave close by, marked with broken 
pieces of the plane. His brilliant sacrifice was the climax 
of a year's devotion to France and to the cause for which 
she fought. 

Houston's military career began in his association with 
the Yale Battery of which he was an active member, and 
at Tobyhanna Camp, in 19 16. In his sophomore year he 
resigned from Yale to enlist in the American Field Ser- 
vice, and sailed for France on February 19, 1917. He 
was sent to the front on March 31st, with Ambulance 
Section Thirteen, which was immediately attached to a 
French Division just going into line in the great Cham- 
pagne offensive. Thus he served his novitiate in France in 
one of the most terrible battles of the war. 

Tall, handsome, and of a remarkably winning person- 
ality, he made friends quickly in the Section. And as one 
of his fellow drivers writes : "When the section ran into 
very hard work during the offensive of Mont Cornillet, 
his friendships were cemented by a very great admiration 
for the tremendous and untiring energy and zeal which 
he devoted with all his soul to the performance of his 
duty as an ambulance driver and which enabled him to 
accomplish so much more than the rest of us. His cour- 
age, which appeared at times to amount to rashness, was 
in reality prompted by a desire to throw everything he 
had into his work without thought of reserving himself." 

It was this same desire which urged him as the summer 
wore on to turn his thoughts toward aviation. Here he 

67 



HENRY HOWARD HOUSTON WOODWARD 

felt would be an opportunity to give his all unstintingly, 
and on July 24, 1917, he enlisted in the Aviation Service 
of the French Army, with which he had thus far served. 
He was assigned to the French Training School at Avord, 
Cher, France, and later to Juvisy, made rapid progress as 
a flyer, and was breveted on October i, 191 7. Then fol- 
lowed a period of further training at Avord and Pau, to 
perfect himself in the art of flying, and in December he 
was sent to the front with Spad Escadrille 94. 

His life, from then until his death, was full to the brim 
of the things which counted most for him. Good com- 
panionship and friends, the joy of combat, and most im- 
portant of all, a work for which he felt himself admirably 
suited in a cause which he knew was just. As to the qual- 
ity of the work he did, one of his comrades in the Esca- 
drille states he was a most daring aviator, thoroughly 
skillful in the mastery of his plane and courageous almost 
to the point of recklessness. He was given official recog- 
nition for the descent of one German plane in a posthu- 
mous citation for the Croix de Guerre with palm. 

One need not touch here on the heartbreaking suspense 
which his family and friends were forced to undergo after 
the news of his disappearance, and before it could be defi- 
nitely established whether he had been killed in battle or 
was perhaps lying, badly wounded, in some German 
prison camp. What we do know is this, — Houston 
Woodward died, as he had lived and fought, a gentleman 
in word and deed, and a hero in the annals of his country. 



68 



CARLOS WILLARD BAER 

At Miami University, which he left late in his senior year 
to join the Field Service, Carlos Willard Baer was "one of 
the best known athletes and one of the most popular uni- 
versity men in the community." A college professor, who 
knew him well, spoke of him as "one of the most modest 
athletes that I have ever known." 

The fourth and youngest son of an Oxford, Ohio, 
clergyman, Baer was brought up in the university town 
and was therefore a familiar figure and a well-liked one 
before he graduated from high school. In the university 
life he quickly earned a place for himself, not merely be- 
cause of his splendid athletic abilities, but because of the 
fine character and personality which went with them. 
His father said, "We could recite enough to fill a volume 
in the way of pleasing memories of his life and then not 
have done. He was a boy of exceptionally clean life — 
with not one of the bad habits so usual in the lives of the 
youths of our day." 

This clean living was remarked by all who knew him, 
yet he was so natural, in his simplicity and lack of af- 
fectation, that Carlos Baer secured their affection as well 
as their respect and admiration. He was a member of one 
of the stronger college fraternities, Ake, and elected in 
his senior year to the men's honorary society, the Red 
Cowl. Of him the Dean of the Junior College wrote, 
" Mr. Baer had a remarkable physical development and 
was without question the most powerful man in college 
while he was here. He never at any time made use of his 
strength in a way which was a reflection upon him or his 
college. His conduct in every respect was above reproach. 
His habits were of the best and when he went from 
Miami, he left behind him the reputation of being one of 
her greatest football men, with the added distinction of 
playing a game which was of a character which met the 
full approval of those who believe in the cleanest kind of 
sports." 

69 



CARLOS WILLARD BAER 



Soon after war was declared Baer, with that eagerness 
to be actively engaged in the actualities of it which so 
well suggests the college spirit in those days of 191 7, en- 
listed in the American Field Service, sailing for France 
in May. There he joined the Camion branch in the field, 
and went out to Transport Section 184 of the Reserve 
Mallet near Soissons. Through the slimmer and fall he 
worked with the trucks, his strength being a great asset 
in the hard manual labors of carrying supplies and keep- 
ing his heavy truck in condition. Not wishing to enlist 
in this branch of service for the duration of the conflict, 
Baer did not sign up in the Motor Transport Corps when 
the Field Service was taken over by the army, but served 
out his enlistment period, then returned to America. In 
March of 19 18 he enHsted in the Engineers' Corps and 
was temporarily stationed in Columbus. While there 
awaiting orders for transfer to Fort Meyer, Virginia, he 
suffered an acute attack of appendicitis. The hurried op- 
eration was successful but a few days later Baer con- 
tracted a severe case of pneumonia. And this man of fine 
physique, weakened by his operation and previous ill- 
ness, died in the camp hospital on the sixth of April, just 
one year after our declaration of war. 

The whole of Oxford mourned his death ; the funeral 
services were held in the Miami auditorium, and the 
University battalion, comprising the whole student body, 
marched in procession to the cemetery. The number of 
his friends, the fineness of his life, the fidelity of his ser- 
vice, all identify the man. And nothing more fitting than 
the text which the pastor of his church used for his fu- 
neral discourse could be written down after the name of 
Carlos Willard Baer : "For he was faithful." 



70 




CARLOS WILLARD BAER 

Born February ii, 1893, in Alexis, Illinois. Son of Reverend Michael R. 
and Henrietta Parcel Baer. Educated in Oxford, Ohio, schools and Miami 
University, Class of 1917. Joined American Field Service, May 26, 1917; 
attached Transport Section 184, to November 20, 191 7. Returned to 
United States, December, 191 7. Enlisted Engineers Corps as private, 
March, 1918. Died April 6, 1918, at Columbus Barracks, of pneumonia, 
following an operation for appendicitis. Buried Oxford, Ohio. 




SCHUYLER LEE 

Born July 29, 1898, in Bloomfield, New Jersey. Son of Reverend J. Bever- 
idge and Mynna Greenman Lee. Home, New London, Connecticut. Edu- 
cated German-English Academy, Milwaukee (Wisconsin) ; Latin School, 
Chicago ; Haverford School, Pennsylvania, and Phillips Academy, Andover, 
Class of 1918. Joined American Field Service, April 28, 1917; attached 
Transport Section 526 to August 6, 1917. Enlisted French Aviation, Lafa- 
yette Escadrille. Breveted October 22, 191 7. Trained Avord, Tours, Pau, 
and le Plessis-Belleville. Caporal, Spad Escadrille 96, January 10, 1918. 
Shot down and killed, April 12, 19 18, east of Montdidier, Somme. Croix de 
Guerre with palm, and two citations. His grave has not been found. 



SCHUYLER LEE 

Schuyler Lee has been described by one of his instruc- 
tors' at Andover as "handsome— Apollo-like," but he 
likeRupert Brooke, would have abhorred the thought of 
being remembered by such fame. Rather must we thmk 
of him in the words of Dr. Stearns, the Head-Master of 
Phillips Academy, as "clean, strong, and unsullied. 

Schuyler was still at the "school on the hiU" when the 
call to service came to him, and there his memory will 
always be cherished as one of its most precious heritages. 
He was a member of the K. O. A. Society, and a deacon 
in the Academy Church, sincere and manly in his be- 
liefs, with the courage to act always in accordance with 
them. When Dr. Stearns considered the formation of the 
Andover Unit for the American Ambulance Field Ser- 
vice, Schuyler was one of the first to whom he turned, 
and his trust was not misplaced. ^ 

With the majority of his unit upon arriving in France, 
Schuyler joined the camion branch of the American 
Field Service, with which he remained until August, 
when he was accepted for the Lafayette Flying Corps, 
and enlisted as a private in French Aviation. From Avord 
and Tours and Pau he wrote enthusiastic, joyous letters 
relating his progress in flying and telling of the fascination 
that his new work held for him. From Pau he went to 
Plessis-Belleville, near Paris, where finished aviators 
awaited their assignment to combat groups, and thence 
to the front with Escadrille 96, which was destined to be 
practically annihilated in the dark days that were soon 

to come. . , T- J -11 £ 

He quickly fell in with the life of the Escadrille, of 
whose record he was very proud, chafing only at the delay 
before he was allowed to go out seeking combat, instead 
of merely guarding other planes. On February 6th he 
wrote in his matter-of-fact way of a fight for which he 

was later cited : . r 1. j r 

"I had my first fight on the morning of the 3rd ot 

71 



SCHUYLER LEE 



February. Five French and eight Boches were in it. 
Three of the men with me got one, while one of our men 
was shot down. It is a totally new and unpleasant feel- 
ing to go out with a fellow and come back without him." 
On his return to the field, he found that his Spad had 
been perforated in twenty places by machine gun bullets. 

When the Germans drove toward Amiens in March, 
Escadrille 96 was summoned hastily to the northern 
battle line and took part in the intensive battles of that 
month. On April 12, while flying east of Montdidier, on 
patrol, Lee's motor, which had been giving him a great 
deal of trouble, must have failed him, for he was last 
seen slowly descending into the German lines. The Ger- 
man casualty lists reported him as shot down in combat, 
and since then his wrecked Spad has been found and 
identified half a mile northeast of Beuvraignes, Somme. 

He died the way he would have liked, — in the per- 
formance of his duty. As a friend of his said, trying to 
be reconciled to his loss, — "Schuyler's death was won- 
derful ! Young, clean, ardent — suddenly in mid-air." 

A French officer, pilot in the same escadrille, wrote of 
'^Schuyler to his father — "A perfect gentleman and model 
soldier, your son had won the affection and the sympathy 
of every one here. I can't tell you enough how much all 
here, officers and men, feel the loss of such a perfectly 
gallant comrade." 

As Major Fuess, who knew and loved Schuyler, said in 
his admirable book "Phillips Academy, Andover, in the 
Great War," "he lived true to his favorite passage in 
poetry : 

' Live pure, speak true, right wrong, follow the King — 
Else, wherefore born ? ' " 



72 



GRANDVILLE LeMOYNE SARGEANT 

"A MAN can't live in a country of fighters and not be- 
come a soldier. He feels down in his heart he is not doing 
his part." This Grandville LeMoyne Sargeant wrote in 
April, 191 7, already planning to enter aviation when his 
six months' Field Service enlistment should end. He 
went on : "The more I see of the French, the prouder I 
am to be descended from them." This French ancestry 
explains the ease with which he entered into the life about 
him in France and his eager desire to serve her. With his 
sincere love of the people about him went a clear-sighted 
belief in their cause. The two were knit inseparably to- 
gether into the very fabric of his being and gave strength 
and endurance to his will. "Many have been killed and 
more will be. It is up to the cultured and civilized people 
of the entire world to get in this and get in it quick." It 

was, he said, " One of the best moments of my life 

when I learned that the United States had at last seen 
her duty, gone ahead, and declared a state of war. A man 
cannot stay in France a week without realizing that our 
place is in this war with the Allies and the sooner the 
better." 

LeMoyne's character, prophetic of his later manliness, 
was apparent in his boyhood. "He was," wrote his 
school principal, "one of the finest high school boys I 

have ever known Such a clean-cut gentlemanly 

fellow and of such sterling worth." From high school in 
Pittsburgh LeMoyne went to Mercersburg Academy and 
then to Washington and Jefferson College. A fraternity 
brother wrote of him : "To an attractive personality was 
joined a fully matured mind and a disposition that was 
seldom rufffed. At times he was really too easy going but 
at all times he was the best of fellows." The College 
Secretary spoke of LeMoyne's being liked by his fellows 
and of his pleasing personality, and "regarded him as a 
young man of high principles." "A type," said a business 
associate of his father's, "that is unfortunately rather rare." 

73 



GRAND VILLE LeMOYNE SARGEANT 

"A fine sturdy young fellow," an older friend called 
him, and a teacher mentioned particularly, "his quick 
responsive mind and energy," qualities which stood him 
in good stead when he left college in his sophomore year 
and went to France in the American Field Service. He 
went to the front with newly-formed Section Sixteen, 
serving in the Argonne. "When America enters the war," 
he wrote, "practically this entire service will enlist, I 
think. Some are signing up with the Aviation Corps and 
others with the French heavy artillery. As for me I am 
going to study the question for the six months I am in the 
field and at the end of that time I shall have made up my 
mind what course to pursue." 

He decided for aviation and returned home, enlisting 
immediately after his twenty-first birthday. He was sent 
for instruction in radio work to the University of Pitts- 
burgh. There he became ill with scarlet fever, pneu- 
monia developed, and LeMoyne died on April i6, 191 8, 
before he had been given his chance to fight for France. 
But he had served the country he loved, he had fought 
his good fight bravely, and achieved a goal of duty well 
performed. 

Telling of their last meeting in Paris a friend gives 
LeMoyne's words : "Butch, I am going to try to get into 
aviation and come back, but if I am out of luck and don't 
make the grade, you and I know it's been a grand old 
scrap," and himself adds, " In that single idiomatic sen- 
tence LeMoyne Sargeant gave me the sum total of why 
we loved him and why his memory is honored." 



74 







GRANDVILLE Le MOYNE SARGEANT 

Born January 7, 1897 at Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. Son of William A. and 
Ella Jolly Sargeant. Educated Pittsburgh High School, Mercersburg 
Academy, and Washington and Jefferson College, Class of 1919. Joined 
American Field Service, March 12, 191 7; attached Section Sixteen until 
September 14, 191 7. Returned to United States. Enlisted United States 
Aviation Service, January 12, 1918; attached Radio School, University of 
Pittsburgh. Died of pneumonia, April 16, 1918, in Pittsburgh, Pennsyl- 
vania. Buried beside his mother in Beaver, Pennsylvania. 




THEODORE RAYMOND FRUTIGER 

Born February 21, 1894, in Morris, Pennsylvania. Son of John and Linnie 
Leonard Frutiger. Educated Morris High School, Mansfield State Normal 
School, and Oberlin College, Class of 1919. Assistant Secretary, West Side 
Y. M. C. A., New York, two years. Joined American Field Service, June 
2, 1917; attached Section Twelve until August 20, 1917. Returned to 
America, December, 1917. Enlisted U. S. Tank Corps, Fort Oglethorpe, 
Georgia. Transferred Camp Colt, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 302d Heavy 
Tank Battalion, as Sergeant. Died there of acute gastritis, April 19, 1918. 
Buried Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Morris, Pennsylvania. 



THEODORE RAYMOND FRUTIGER 

"Tioga County lost a promising young man and patriot 
in the death of Theodore Raymond Frutiger, at an offi- 
cers* training camp at Gettysburg," lamented the Phila- 
delphia North American in an article of commemora- 
tion. "His is the story of a young life of great promise 
which was sacrificed on the altar of freedom." His story 
is also one of persistency and determination to get to the 
front, despite defective eyesight, and to help the cause 
which America held so dear. 

At the time Frutiger enlisted he was a student at Ober- 
lin College, and, like so many other college students, he 
saw in the Field Service an immediate means of helping 
the Allies in their great struggle. In June, 191 7, he sailed 
for France to drive an ambulance. About the first of 
September this service was taken over by the United 
States Government, and those who were in it were given 
the option of leaving or signing up for the duration of the 
war. Young Frutiger, desiring to get into more active 
service, left the ambulance work and sought entrance into 
the aviation service, but he was rejected because of very 
bad eyesight. 

Owing to the death of his father, he returned to this 
country in December, and in January he, with several 
other returned ambulance drivers, attempted to enter an 
officers' training camp. He was again rejected because of 
poor eyesight. He journeyed to Washington, D. C, and 
there once more he was told that they could not admit 
him. However he was not discouraged and informed thfe 
authorities that he would keep coming until he was 
accepted. 

Finally they wrote him, after his return home, stating 
that they had waived his defects of vision and that he 
should report at once to Fort Oglethorpe. After remain- 
ing there for a time a Tank Corps was organized, and 
Frutiger being anxious to get back to France, enlisted in 
the 302d Heavy Tank Battalion and was transferred to 

75 



THEODORE RAYMOND FRUTIGER 

Camp Colt, Gettysburg. His mother received a letter 
from him on April 15th, saying that he expected to sail 
again for France in a few days. Then he was taken seri- 
ously ill, and a day later, before his relatives could be 
notified, he died of acute gastritis. 

Obviously it was no mere adventuring which stirred 
private Frutiger so deeply, and an earnestness such as his 
could not fail to have left its effect upon those with whom 
he came in contact. The strength of his determination to 
serve was an inspiration to others who were privileged to 
execute what he willed so intensely. He will be remem- 
bered by those who knew him as a man of fine character, 
who made friends readily wherever he went, and whose 
death was widely mourned. 



76 



CHARLES VIVIAN DU BOUCHET 

Charles Vivian Du Bouchet was the youngest of those 
American boys educated in France who hastened to join 
the American Ambulance during the early months of the 
War. His enrolment for active duty in September, 1914, 
at the age of fifteen years, is typical of the uncompromis- 
ing devotion and quiet heroism that characterized the 
man beneath the boyish carefree exterior. 

Of his service at the Front during the epic days of the 
First Marne, he said little, though we frequently tried 
to draw him out. We envied him the experience in the 
War of movement during the long stalemate at Pont-a- 
Mousson, where the time, destination, and source of 
every shell was a known quantity and every impercep- 
tible wavering of the front lines meant a thrilling victory 
or a gloomy defeat. 

Every section had its cast of typical characters, which 
remained curiously constant despite changes in per- 
sonnel. There always was a man who did most of the 
hard, dirty work ; there was the fellow who never did any 
work at all except under protest ; then the chronic 
grumbler, prophet of disaster and hopeless tragedy, with 
whom we expostulated, and whom we fled to find a more 
normal and cheerful view of life in the agreeable com- 
pany of gay Du Bouchet or Leif Barclay. 

Both of these, at different times, played the role of 
section "morale officer" in old S. S. U. Two. All of us 
received the warmest welcome from them. They always 
had time to help a comrade change billets or tinker with 
a balky engine. It was not strange that the French 
should have been quick to feel their sympathetic per- 
sonalities and to make them the Section favorites. 
Vivian's perfect command of French diction, not to men- 
tion argot, permitted him to arrive at a degree of inti- 
macy with the more intelligent French men and officers, 
which was denied Barclay and the rest of us. This inti- 
macy was soon reflected in an additional confidence in the 

77 



CHARLES VIVIAN Du BOUCHET 



Section and further privileges for all. As liaison workers, 
these two members did much to promote the mutual 
liking which made those days in the Bois-le-Pretre sector 
the most charming memory of the war for those of us 
who have survived. Nowhere was service more appre- 
ciated or personal contacts within and without the sec- 
tion kindlier. During the fall of 191 6 and the spring of 
191 7 practically the entire section enlisted in the Foreign 
Legion for aviation service. Poor Du Bouchet tried with 
the rest of us but lacked the one absolutely essential 
faculty for aviation, perfect eyesight. This great dis- 
appointment did not induce him to "quit" as did so 
many others who had to be pilots or nothing. He was 
peculiarly fitted for liaison and interpretation work and 
was drafted for that service. 

No non-combatant service, however, could satisfy him 
for long. In the winter of 19 17-18, he succeeded in 
transferring to the U. S. Infantry. Let it be said that no 
one had a clearer idea of the hardships of that service 
than a former ambulance driver at the Front. 

He was severely wounded the fourth of May, 191 8, at 
Crevecoeur and was taken to the American Ambulance 
in Paris, where he died May i6th. He was awarded the 
D. S. M. and the D. S. C. Those of Section Two, who 
gave their lives in the air, would be first to accord the 
palm of most supreme heroism to Vivian, who quietly 
refusing to take shelter from his conscience behind youth 
and bad eyesight sought a certain and unspectacular 
death. 



78 




CHARLES VIVIAN Du BOUCHET 

Born abroad in 1899. Son of Dr. Charles Du Bouchet. Home, Paris. 
Educated Paris schools. Joined American Ambulance, Neuilly, September 
3, 1914, as driver ; attached Paris Squad and served at front in First Battle 
of the Marne. Joined American Field Service, September 16, 1915 ; at- 
tached Section Two until February 10, 1916. Rejoined Field Service, 
December 13, 1916 ; attached Vosges Detachment to June 5, 1917. Enlisted, 
U. S. Aviation as interpreter. Transferred to U. S. Infantry, i6th Regiment, 
winter of 1917-1918. Died May 16, 1918, in Paris of wounds received in 
action near Crevecoeur, Oise. Buried Paris, France. Awarded D. S. C. and 
D. S. M. 




ROGER SHERMAN DIX, Junior 

Born December 9, 1896, in Boston, Massachusetts. Son of Roger Sherman 
and Louise Parrish Dix. Educated Country Day School and Harvard Uni- 
versity, Class of 19 1 8. Attended two Plattsburgh Camps. Harvard Regi- 
ment. Joined American Field Service, July 23, 191 7 ; attached Section One 
until October 21, 1917. Enlisted U. S. Aviation, November, 1917- Trained 
as bombing-observer at le Crotoy, Somme. Commissioned Second Lieuten- 
ant, May 12, 1918. Killed in aeroplane accident, le Crotoy, May 15, 1918. 
Buried le Crotoy, Somme. 



ROGER SHERMAN DIX, Junior 

In the spring of 191 8, upon his last training flight at the 
French school, Roger Sherman Dix, Jr., met his death. 
The plane in which he was acting as observer "col- 
lapsed at a height of about six-hundred feet" and Roger 
and his French pilot were killed. A French flyer at the 
Ecole wrote : " Comme les autres fois, il etait parti con- 
Jiant, joyeux, et plein d' entrain. Helas, le mort stupide 
s'est trouve sur son chemin." 

Roger Dix left Harvard at the end of his junior year 
to join the American Field Service, and in July, 191 7> 
joined Section One near Verdun. With the veteran group 
he served through the very active summer of almost con- 
stant fighting. Section One receiving a citation for its 
work at this time. He added many friendships here, to 
those he had won in school and college, and earned the 
commendation of his Chef for his unflagging zeal and fi- 
delity to duty. In October he left the Service, enlisted in 
the U. S. Air Force, and later went, as a cadet in Ameri- 
can Aviation, to a French school .at le Crotoy, near the 
mouth of the Somme. "He wished to be trained as a 
pilot, but this would have meant a long delay. He was 
promised that he would be sent at once to the front if he 
took the training as observer," and so Roger was one of 
twenty-five who volunteered as bombing-observers. 

Having made his first flight in March, he completed 
his work with the best marks of any in his class, "was to 
have received the highest honors of any of my command," 
said his chief ; and he was to leave for the front in a few 
days, when the accident happened. Subsequently his 
commission as Second Lieutenant arrived, dated May 
12, 1 91 8, two days before his death. Lieutenant Glover 
wrote, "He died while doing work in the air, and while 
holding the position of first in his class. More glory than 
this no man can claim for his son." He told, also, that in 
six weeks he came to know Roger as "a most excellent 
soldier both on the ground and in the air." 

79 



ROGER SHERMAN DIX, Junior 



Nothing can better show Roger Dix as a man and a 
friend than does a memorial letter, sent to his father, 
signed by each of his cadet comrades: "None of the 
twenty-four flying cadets of his detachment has words to 
express to you how deeply we feel his loss — to you, to 
us, and to the A. E. F. Easily the most popular member 
of this detachment, Cadet Dix was a loyal, gallant sol- 
dier, an assiduous student, an excellent airman, and a 
splendid companion. Every man counted him his friend, 
and he had never failed us. His fearlessness, his coolness, 
and his intrepidity had made it a foregone conclusion 
that his career in his chosen service would have been 
brilliantly distinguished and his tragic death is a double 
loss, to us and to the army, because he was the possessor 
of such splendid qualities." 

Corporal Robert Philip, his French instructor, voiced 
the sympathy and understanding which marked Roger's 
friendship with those about him in a letter to his father : 
" Ce hon camarade — il est mort en faisant son devoir de 
soldat americain, il est mort en brave ! J'ai, moi-meme en 
aeroplane suivi le cortege et lance des drapeaux sur le cor- 
hillard, supreme homage a notre cher disparu. Roger Sher- 
man Dix repose maintenant en paix en terre frangaise pour 
laquelle il est venu courageusement comhattre a I' ombre des 
drapeaux americains et franQais. Nous avians tous pu 
apprecier ses qualites nombreuses — excellent camarade, un 
coeur toujours compatissant, devoue travailleur et modeste." 

In the words of his fellows, written to Roger's father, 
"We have lost a splendid comrade, the Expeditionary 
Force a fine soldier, and yourself a noble son." 



80 



WILLIAM BECKER HAGAN 

At Arthur's Court, Sir Percival was styled the Gentle 
Knight. If ever modern knight deserved the name it was 
William Becker Hagan. His life, crowded as it was with 
interests and with deeds, is an unsullied record of up- 
rightness and chivalry, the pages of which one turns with 

reverence. <<ttii" 

At Huntington School, though slender. Bill was 
prominent in athletics as a member of the baseball, foot- 
ball, and hockey teams, and in his senior year as captain 
of the latter two, in addition to which remarkable record, 
he stood high in scholarship, winning final honors in 
three subjects. At Stone School where he spent a year, 
he captained the baseball team, and at Andover in 191 7. 
he was a member of the hockey team. During this period 
he also played on the Boston Hockey Club team which 
was rated among the best in the country. His successful 
athletic career which might have spoiled a lesser man, 
only resulted in bringing into bolder relief his modesty, 
his thoughtfulness, and his good sportsmanship. He was 
a good loser and a better winner. His first thought after 
a game was to give a cheerful word to the losers, whether 
they were his own team-mates or his opponents. He was 
a gentleman always, and a clean hard fighter. 

He left Andover to enter the American Field Service 
on May 26, 1917, and was sent out to Section Twelve, 
which was working in Champagne. He wrote often to his 
father, toward whom he felt a tenderness and devotion 
that is one of the most beautiful things in his character, 
displaying rather unusual powers of description. He saw 
the strife about him clearly and was keenly alive to its 
meaning, but he did not lose his healthy, boyish point of 
view. He had a horror of exaggeration, and his letters 
are free from the slightest taint of heroics. 

On August 13th, just before the Section moved up to 
a particularly active and dangerous sector, he wrote a 
letter which was to be sent to his " Dad" in the event of 



WILLIAM BECKER HAGAN 



his death. It is too personal and sacred to quote, save one 
small passage that tells us a little of the quality of the 
thoughts that came so naturally to him. 

"If my time comes before yours, don't worry, Dad, 
just feel proud that you are the father of a son who gave 
his life willingly for this great country, France." 

"Bill" returned to the United States at the conclusion 
of his six months' service and after vainly trying to enlist 
in American Aviation, he entered the Royal Air Force in 
Canada. Before his training was completed, he fell ill 
with influenza closely followed by pneumonia, and on 
May II, 1918, he died with a smile on his lips and the 
peace of God in his heart. 

He used to ask his nurse to read the Lord's prayer with 
him every night. She wrote that "he knew he was dying 
and almost to the end he was conscious ; but he had no 

fear the only thing was, he was sorry to leave 

now when there was so much to be done." 

"The afternoon before he passed away," wrote his 
chaplain, Captain W. G. White, "he so cheerfully looked 
up to me and said, 'Apart from the separation of friends 
for a season, what difference does it make ? ' " Later, with 
utter forgetfulness of self, when he saw that his nurse was 
crying he said gently, "Sister, don't worry about me. 
I 'm all right and everyone is so good." Earlier that day 
she had given him some flowers to which was attached 
this verse, "He will keep thee in the Shadow of His 
Wings," He read it and whispered, looking into the 
mysterious future with calm eyes and with the faith born 
of his manner of life of purity, — a faith that we know 
was so well founded — , "That's great, Sister, He shall 
take care of me !" 



82 




WILLIAM BECKER HAGAN 

Born February 12, 1898, in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Son of Oliver and 
Josephine Fitch Hagan. Home, Brookline, Massachusetts. Educated Hun- 
tington and Stone Schools, Brookline, and Phillips Academy, Andover, 
Class of 1917. Joined American Field Service, May 26, 1917; attached 
Section Twelve until October 31, 1917. Returned to America. Enlisted 
Royal Air Force, Canada. Died May 11, 1918, as Cadet, of pneumonia, at 
Toronto, Canada. Buried Brookline, Massachusetts. 




WILLIAM KEY BOND EMERSON, Junior 

Born April 9, 1894, in New York City. Son of W. K. B. and Maria Furman 
Emerson. Educated Middlesex School, Concord, Massachusetts, and Har- 
vard University, Class of 19 16. Joined American Field Service, July 16, 
191 5 ; attached Section Three to November 25, 1915. Returned to college. 
Studied aeronautical engineering, Columbia and Massachusetts Institute 
of Technology. Rejoined Field Service, January 28, 1917; attached Sec- 
tion Thirteen in France, then Section Three in Balkans to September 20, 
1917. Croix de Guerre. Enlisted American Aviation Service. Trained as 
observer, French artillery school, Valdahon. Trained with isth U, S. Field 
Artillery and 228th French Escadrille. Second Lieutenant, U.S. Field 
Artillery. Attached 12th Aero Squadron, May, 1918. Shot down and 
killed. May 14, 1918, near Toul. Buried in American Cemetery, Vignot, 
Meuse, north of Commercy. 



WILLIAM KEY BOND EMERSON, Junior 

There are few men, dying at twenty-four, who leave be- 
hind them such a clear-cut record for service and char- 
acter as did Lieutenant William Key Bond Emerson. Of 
what he stood for even as a lad, one of his masters at 
Middlesex has written : " ' Bill ' Emerson was one of those 
delightful, big-hearted, child-like fellows who made 
friends with everyone he met. At school he stood for the 
best in both sport and work. He was a keen competitor, 
but too high strung to make the ideal athlete, though he 
rowed on the school crew. At his books he showed marked 
application rather than brilliancy, but was of the intel- 
lectual type whose tastes were always refined and high." 
And another says : "To have known ' Bill ' is a privilege I 
shall never lose. I recall how he looked when laughing, 
when serious, or when puzzled, but I cannot recall ever 
having seen him angry or vexed. I feel this is quite re- 
markable in a boy and I think it sums up 'Bill's' char- 
acter pretty well." 

His association with the American Field Service began 
in the summer of 191 5. Long interested in France and the 
struggle she was making against the invader, he left col- 
lege at the end of his junior year to serve for six months 
in the Vosges with Section Three. In January, 191 6, he 
returned to Harvard and received his degree with his 
class in June. But twenty-one years old at the time of his 
first enlistment, it is interesting to note from a letter of 
the Section's leader the impression he made on the men 
with whom he worked : "He was so straightforward and 
so true, and such a gentleman through and through. He 
had a great sense of duty and loyalty and was morally as 
well as physically courageous. He was always so eager 
to do more than his share that he was an inspiration to 
those about him ; and ever cheerful, kind, and thoughtful, 
he won the very deep affection and respect of everyone." 

After a summer and fall spent at Columbia and Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology in the study of Aero- 

83 



WILLIAM KEY BOND EMERSON, Junior 

nautical engineering. " Bill " began to chafe at the hesita- 
tion of his country in joining the allies and in January, 
1 91 7, he decided to re-enlist in the Ambulance Service. 
He was this time sent out with Section Thirteen, at- 
tached to a French division engaged in the Champagne 
offensive, but was soon afterward transferred to his old 
section then serving in the Balkans. Here he spent sev- 
eral months with the Army of the Orient in the Albanian 
mountains and won for himself a citation for the Croix 
de Guerre. By this time America had at last entered the 
war and "Bill" went back to France, received a com- 
mission in the American Army, and was sent to the 
French Officers' Training School at Valdahon, where he 
trained as an observer and graduated at the head of his 
class. Then followed a winter of further training and ex- 
perience with the 15th Field Artillery and the 228th 
French Escadrille, and early in May, 1918, he joined the 
1 2th Aero Squadron of the American Army in the Toul 
sector. 

It was on one of his first trips over the lines, on May 
14, 191 8, that he and his pilot were shot down. One of 
his comrades. Lieutenant K. P. Culbert, wrote on May 
2 1 St, the day before he himself met death : "We do not 
know whether the 'antis' got him or whether it was a 
Boche plane. He went out on a reglage and was shot 
down in our lines. He was an honor to Harvard, a gentle- 
man and a soldier, and the first of our little group to gain 
the one glorious epitaph." 



84 



RICHARD ASHLEY BLODGETT 

When Richard Ashley Blodgett's friends went over his 
belongings, the day after he fell into a slideslip and 
crashed returning from an air-fight, they found the fol- 
lowing message : — "Good luck to you all. I'll see you 
later on. Show them we can fight like hell — a hard, 
clean fight. Give 'em hell ! So long." As his colonel re- 
marked in a letter to the commanding general, "there is 
some 'pep' to this!" 

As a child "Dick" had a very definite idea of manli- 
ness — that nerve and fortitude which made such a devil- 
may-care message both understandable and natural. He 
was genuinely interested in other people, and he saw al- 
ways the best in them. To quote his mother, "Dick's 
world was made up of men and women, boys and girls, 
who in his own words were 'corkers.'" 

At Williams, "Dick" played on his freshman football 
team, captained the freshman hockey team, joined Sigma 
Phi Society, and on May 5, 1917, in his sophomore year, 
sailed for France in the American Field Service, where he 
was assigned to T. M. 526 B, of the camion branch. 
From the very start, however, he was anxious to get into 
aviation because he felt that he had peculiar qualifica- 
tions for that work. On July 30, 19 17, he wrote, " I can be 
of service and real service, I hope. That's all that mat- 
ters now." His ambition was realized towards the early 
part of September and he rushed off joyously to Tours — 
and flying. He loved it all, — the game itself, the men in 
it, the luxuries, and the hardships. On his first plane he 
painted the inscription he had earlier chalked on his 
truck, "I should worry!" 

His letters to his family are all unwaveringly cheerful 
and amusing, with a charmingly light touch, particu- 
larly in those to his sisters ; but we know from other 
sources that often at the very time they were written his 
heart was in the black depths that were known even to 
the most light-hearted of soldiers ! His mother truly says 

85 



RICHARD ASHLEY BLODGETT 



of him that "his was the enviable gift of bringing sun- 
shine wherever he went." He thought often and well on 
serious matters. He wrote, "Somehow, I can't seem to 
worry, I 'm too small a spot on the map" ; and later, car- 
rying on this idea, " I am much nearer heaven in the air." 
In a letter received after his death he said, "For all its 
drawbacks I would n't be out of this little job for any- 
thing on earth !" 

In January, 1918, writing to a friend in whom he had 
confided his firm belief that he was not destined to out- 
live the war, he said, " I sure hope I get at least one Ger- 
man before I get killed !" His wish was fulfilled, for on 
May 2, as a member of the famous 95th Squadron, he 
shot down a German observation machine in a thrilling 
fight that took him well into the German lines. Two 
weeks later, returning from patrol over the lines, he fell 
suddenly, and it was believed, from the fact that there 
were two fresh bullet holes in the bottom of the machine, 
that he had been wounded and had lost consciousness. 
He is classified as killed in action. 

A friend in the squadron who had known him in the 
camion service as well. Lieutenant Alden Bradford 
Sherry, wrote, "Out here on the front it was his ability 
as a flyer, his quick perception of his duty, and his zeal 
in carrying out his work without any thought of the risk 
involved, which made our admiration for him ais great as 
our affection." Another of those who loved him expressed 
the feeling of them all, "I am sure that the glory of 
Dick's passing must be to us all who knew him as the 
setting of a bright sun, which brightens the lonely places 
and touches the hills with flame." 



86 




RICHARD ASHLEY BLODGETT 
court, Meurthe-et-Moselle. 




ERNEST ARMOND GIROUX 

Born December 4, 1895, in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Son of Ernest and 
Jessie Stuart Giroux (Mrs. Arthur E. Haley). Educated Somerville High 
School and Dartmouth College, Class of 19 19. Joined American Field Ser- 
vice, April 21, 1917; attached Transport Section 526 to August 6, 1917. 
Entered American Aviation, August, 191 7. Trained Avord, Tours, Issou- 
dun, and Cazeaux. Commissioned First Lieutenant November 20, 1917. 
Attached 103d Aero Squadron (Lafayette Escadrille). Croix de Guerre and 
D. S. C. Killed in action. May 22, 1918, near Laventie. Buried at Estaires, 
north-east of Bethune, Nord. Grave not located. 



ERNEST ARM AND GIROUX 

"If I should not come back you must be proud, .... 
There would be nothing to regret, for I could not have 
done otherwise than that which I did, and I think I could 
not have done better." 

These words of Alan Seeger's, Ernest Armand Giroux 
quoted to his own mother when writing of his decision to 
enter aviation at the end of his service with the Reserve 
Mallet. "We are only doing our little part," he had said 
earlier, "you have always been the best of mothers — and 
we want you to continue and be the bravest of mothers in 
this sacrifice." One of the finest of his many fine quali- 
ties was this regard for her. A fellow aviator wrote of 
him : "His heart was as large as his body. I have never 
known a man who loved his family more." Lieutenant 
Leland Emery, with him in T. M. U. days and later in 
flying, said, "Ernest had a rare personality that at- 
tracted all men to him whether they shared his likes and 
dislikes or not," which gives a sidelight upon his char- 
acteristic of clinging to his own ideals, upon the single- 
ness of purpose that led him, unflinching, over hard 
roads. 

At school and college he made a splendid record. His 
popularity was only extended and strengthened when, in 
the spring of 191 7, he sailed for France and went to the 
front as a sergeant in Camion Section 526-B. Ernest had 
entered the war amazingly clear of vision. He felt no 
rancor against the individual enemy. "In a way one 
cannot help but pity them," he wrote, "I have seen pris- 
oners — stoop-shouldered, broken in spirit, not know- 
ing what the whole thing means, men driven by the war 
gods behind them, by the war gods who are to blame, and 
deserve no mercy," and from this grew his fine anger at 
all that the German army represented. In August, 1917, 
Ernest entered the American aviation service, writing, 
"It is now time that every American take part in as 
belligerent work as he is fitted for." Yet he soothed his 

87 



ERNEST ARMAND GIROUX 



mother's anxieties by mentioning the long period of train- 
ing before he should be in danger, but added : "This is 

our war and you are doing your part A 

war in which one mother's son is no better than any other 
mother's son — one life no better than the next." 

After three months' training he joined the 103d Pur- 
suit Squadron, formerly the Lafayette Esquadrille, earn- 
ing a place in the regard of his mates as a friend and their 
esteem as a flyer. Lieutenant Baer, who led the patrol in 
which Ernest lost his life, said that "although compar- 
atively new to the Squadron he proved himself a pilot of 

the very highest quality few others had the 

capabilities and qualities of your son." An American 
"Ace" says of his distinguished Service Cross, "no man 
living or dead deserved one more," and the citation it- 
self says : "Lieutenant Giroux while on patrol with four 
other scout planes attacked an enemy formation of eight 
monoplanes. Two companions were forced to retire. 
Despite numerical superiority Lieutenant Giroux con- 
timied the attack, endeavoring to protect his leader, until 
finally forced down and killed." Ernest's Croix de Guerre 
citation says, "He did not hesitate to attack within their 

lines " There was no hesitation in his nature 

when it came to doing the hard, right things. Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel William A. Thaw wrote of Ernest: "In the 
short time he had been with us we had all come to con- 
sider him a good pal and to admire him for his energetic 
courage." A good pal, a thoughtful son, a brave man — 
he lived and died. His courage and faith have left us a 
"mark to aim at." 



88 



PAUL BORDA KURTZ 

When he resigned his commission as commander of Sec- 
tion Eighteen to enter the aviation service, Paul Kurtz 
wrote to his parents in Philadelphia : **I feel that we owe 
a debt of gratitude to France which mere 'unlimited 
credit' can never pay. I have done a lot of thinking and 
have resolved that if the chance should ever come I 
would show her that there are Americans who could give 
their lives, if necessary, as long as they knew they were 
doing what was right." 

"Doing right," to Paul Kurtz, was fighting in the air. 
Doing that, he gave his life near Toul, France, serving as 
a volunteer chasse pilot in the famous Ninety- Fourth 
Squadron. 

Kurtz's intimate friends say that few men among the 
thousands who flocked to the aid of France loved that 
land and its people as did this Philadelphia youth who 
went from Harvard in the summer of 191 5 to become one 
of the early volunteers in the ambulance service. 

He served his first enlistment in Section One and re- 
turned home in the winter of 191 5 to complete his work 
at Harvard. July of the next year saw him back in old 
Section One again. When the United States entered the 
war, Kurtz had served through a dozen battles scattered 
along the ragged line from Dunkirk to Alsace with the 
famous pioneer unit. 

In April of 191 7, Kurtz sought to resign from the am- 
bulance service to enter aviation, but was prevailed upon 
to curb his ambition for combat work that he might as- 
sume command of Section Eighteen, a fresh unit in the 
field. 

Three months later, feeling that these new volunteers 
had become veteran ambulanciers, he resigned to offer 
himself to the air service. He trained in the French 
schools and with the Royal Flying Squadron in England 
and Scotland to become head instructor of a new Ameri- 
can aviation school, but while it was being built, Paul, 

89 



PAUL BORDA KURTZ 



eager for service at the front, asked that he might go 
there. He was finally assigned temporarily to the Ninety- 
Fourth for front-line experience. 

Captain Rickenbacker, who led the patrol on which 
Kurtz lost his life, tells how the new recruit labored to 
master control of an aeroplane unfamiliar to him that he 
might participate in battle. It was on the first critical 
patrol over the lines that Kurtz lost his life. Returning 
home after his first fight, his machine suddenly dived 
groundward and burst into flames. 

In his book Rickenbacker writes : "A few hours later 
the mystery of that crash was revealed. As has already 
been mentioned, I had noticed before starting that Lieu- 
tenant Kurtz appeared nervous, but had not given the 
matter any great consideration. 

"The explanation was given by a brother officer who 
had come with Kurtz to the squadron. Before starting 
on his last flight, Lieutenant Kurtz had confided to him 
that he was subject to fainting spells when exposed to 
high altitudes, and the only thing he was afraid of was 
that he might be seized with such an attack while in the 
air. Alas, his fear had been only too well founded. But 
what a pity it was he had not confided this fear to me. 
I had lost a friend, and he had perished in the manner 
most dreaded by aviators." 

For fear of losing his opportunity to fight, Kurtz had 
kept his secret. Under stress of bitter attack by experi- 
enced opponents on his first patrol, he had withstood 
their fire like the soldier that he was. The following day, 
when he was laid to rest in the little American cemetery 
near Toul, comrades of the Ninety-Fourth showered the 
grave, from planes overhead, with wreaths of flowers, 
their last tribute to a chum who had given his best, his 
life, for France. 



90 




PAUL BORDA KURTZ 

Born September 20, 1893, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Son of William 
B. and Madge Fulton Kurtz. Educated De Lancey School, Philadelphia, 
and Harvard University, Class of 1916. Joined American Field Service, 
August 4, 1915 ; attached Section One to November 30th. Returned to 
America and secured college degree. Rejoined Field Service, July 29, 19 16, 
and Section One. Commandant Adjoint, Section Eighteen, April, 19 17, to 
July 25, 1917. Croix de Guerre. Enlisted U. S. Aviation. Trained Pau, 
France, and Scotland, especially in gunnery. First Lieutenant, attached 
•94th Aero Squadron. Killed near Toul, returning from first patrol between 
Pont-a-Mousson and St. Mihiei, May 22, 1918. Buried at Menil-la-Tour, 
north of Toul. Body transferred to American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, 
Meurthe-et-Moselle. 




RICHARD STEVENS CONOVER, 2D 

Born March i8, 1898, in Concord, New Hampshire. Son of Reverend 
James P. and Mary Coit Conover. Home, Newport, Rhode Island. Edu- 
cated St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire, Class of 191 7. Platts- 
burg Camp, 19 16. Joined American Field Service, May 5, 191 7 ; attached 
Transport Section 526 to November 8, 1917. Enlisted U. S. Infantry; 
attached Machine Gun Company, i8th Regiment, Gondrecourt. Killed in 
action. May 27, 1918, near Cantigny, north-east of Montdidier. Two 
American citations. Buried American Cemetery, Villers-Tournelles, 
Somme. 



RICHARD STEVENS CONOVER, 2d 

A SPORTSMAN to the core, Corporal Richard Stevens 
Conover, 2d, died, "playing the game as he had always 
before, hard and square." 

It was on the morning of May 2"], 1918, that this ath- 
lete won his final and most glorious victory. Command- 
ing a gun, at an outpost near the German front line, he 
and his crew were attacked by a squad of fifty or sixty 
of the enemy's picked men. A companion tells the story : 

"The Germans wanted prisoners for information, and 
succeeded in capturing two infantrymen in our front 
line. As the Germans started back with their prisoners. 
Corporal Conover and his men picked up their rifles and 
we all began to pick off the Germans who were taking the 
Americans back. We succeeded and no prisoners reached 
the German lines. It was while we were trying to save 
these two men that Corporal Conover was shot. I was 
lying next to him on the parapet. He was cool, enthusi- 
astic, doing good work. He asked me once * if I saw that 
one go ! ' After a few minutes I looked around and missed 
him. He was lying in the trench. A man from his crew 
and I asked if he were hurt. He saw his man without a 
rifle, and said with a smile on his face, 'I'm through. 
Take my rifle,' He died with the knowledge that he had 
done his utmost in the performance of his duty." 

"Dick" Conover was within two months of graduat- 
ing from St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire, 
when the opportunity came for him to join the American 
Field Service. Incensed over the death of his favorite 
cousin, a member of the Princess Pat Regiment, then in 
Belgium, he promptly accepted and, at the age of nine- 
teen, sailed for France. Being unusually big and strong, 
he was chosen for the camion service, and drove a truck 
for six months on the Aisne front. During these six 
months he became very fond of the French people and 
felt that he must do more than he was doing. 

So in November, instead of returning home, he en- 

91 



RICHARD STEVENS CONOVER, 2d 

listed in the American army and was sent almost im- 
mediately with a machine gun corps of the i8th Infantry 
to Gondrecourt. After training there for some time they 
were sent to the trenches, and from that time on were 
constantly in action. In February he was made Corporal 
in charge of a machine gun. His officer said of him, 
"Corporal Conover was one of the most manly, upright 
characters I have ever met. His conduct in the machine 
gun company was beyond criticism. On former tours at 
the Front his high courage was tested and proved." 

To do a man's work in the war, and to do it well, was 
"Dick" Conover's sole concern. In one of his earlier 
letters he wrote, "When you think that all the boys my 
age in France are at the Front you can hardly say that 
I am too young. You must remember that I am nine- 
teen, which is practically twenty, and twenty is a man. 
I am sure if you were over here and actually saw how 
things are, you would not consent to my returning home 
without first having served in the real fight." 

Though disappointed at not being able to pass ex- 
aminations for aviation, while driving his camion, Conover 
managed to find some consolation in the fact that "if by 
any chance anything should happen to me, Mother, you 
will know that my work here has not been in vain, and 
that, however small a part I have played, I have played 
it with all my heart." The magnificent simplicity of it ! 
And its utter genuineness ! Just how whole-heartedly he 
played that part to the very end is testified to by his 
platoon sergeant. "Although but recently in the service 
and giving promise of speedy advancement, Corporal 
Conover gladly and willingly offered up his life on the 
altar of his country, and died with a smile, as honorable 
and brave in death as in life." 

It was the end "Dick" Conover most coveted. Big, 
patient, and understanding, "cast in the heroic mould," 
as Dr. Drury, head master of St. Paul's, describes him, 
"He died at his post — the noblest thing a man can do." 



92 



COLEMAN TILESTON CLARK 

None of Coleman Clark's friends in the Field Service can 
recall when he was not tenderly known as " Brake Band," 
or " B. B.," just as none of us can remember when he was 
not dear to all who knew him. He was playfully given 
his nickname when he first went to the front in the late 
spring of 191 6 with Section Three, then working in the 
hills of Lorraine, and when, as he wrote, "my car wore 
out three brake bands in three days, and it made me 
wild." To his companions in the army he was ever after 
known only as "B. B." 

He was young, was "B. B.," and delightfully boyish in 
appearance and spirits, when he first came to the war. 
All his active service, too, was with one Section. And yet, 
boy though he was, and limited as was his actual personal 
contact with other Sections, he very quickly came to be 
one of the men who, with nothing to make them known 
except the transmitted force of a fine character and a 
quenchless enthusiasm for the cause of France, really 
stood for something in the eyes of the Service as a 
whole. 

The fine record which he made in Lorraine, he repeated 
at Verdun, and in the Balkans. "I never knew a man 
who so completely won the respect and affection of every 
one," wrote Lovering Hill, his chief for the entire six- 
teen months of his service as a volunteer. "Always 
bright and cheerful, ever ready to do more than his 
share, gentle and kind, never out of temper, plucky and 
courageous, always a gentleman — he rang true as steel." 
And another member of Section Three wrote to his par- 
ents at the time of his death : "You probably never knew 
from Coleman how fond we all were of him " 

When America entered the war, "B. B." tried to en- 
list in his country's army, but he was rejected by every 
branch, on account of his eyes, so he irrevocably threw 
in his lot with the blue-coated poilus, whom he already 
knew so well and loved so deeply, by enlisting in the For- 

93 



COLEMAN TILESTON CLARK 



eign Legion, and entering the French artillery officers' 
training school at Fontainebleau. 

Graduating as an aspirant in January, 1918, he was 
attached to the 28th Regiment, Field Artillery, and 
served with distinction at the front until he was mor- 
tally wounded, on May 28th, during the last great Ger- 
man offensive on the Aisne, while replacing one of his 
gunners, who had fallen at his post a moment before. 

He was taken at once to a field hospital where an opera- 
tion was considered impossible without blood trans- 
fusion. The chief surgeon asked M. Baron, a hospital 
attendant, who was, before the war, a Catholic mission- 
ary in Egypt, and subsequently director of a Catholic 
College in Cairo, if he would give some of his blood for 
this purpose. "I wept for joy," Monsieur Baron has 
written, "What would we not have done to try to save 
this child, the first American who had come into our 
hands?" 

The operation was successful and Coleman was resting 
easily when the Germans, approaching ever nearer and 
nearer, began to bombard the hospital. It was necessary 
to evacuate the wounded and, not strong enough to stand 
this disturbance, he died quietly when they began to 
move him. He was buried the next day in the military 
cemetery of Ambleny-Fontenoy, the colonel of his regi- 
ment speaking of his heroic act in "going down from 
chief of two guns to charging and firing, as fast as his 
men fell." 

As collected by his parents, Coleman's letters, written 
without premeditation, at sea, in Paris hotels, in French 
dugouts, and in Balkan cattle-sheds, give an intimate 
picture of the life of a Field Service man. They also 
record with rare charm the high standards which we, who 
were by his side at their writing, saw so modestly and so 
unvaryingly put in practice. 



94 




COLEMAN TILESTON CLARK 

Born April i, 1896, in Yonkers, New York. Son of Salter Storrs and Caro- 
line Goddard Clark. Home, Westfield, New Jersey. Educated Westfield 
schools, Petit Lycee Condorcet, Paris ; Kingsley School, New Jersey ; Yale, 
University, Class of 1918. Joined American Field Service, April 29, 1916; 
attached Section Three, France, and nine months in Balkans, to August 24, 
1917. Croix de Guerre. Aspirant, French Artillery School, Fontainebleau, 
January 24, 1918. Attached 28th Regiment French Artillery. Mortally 
wounded in action. May 28th, Juvigny. Died May 29, 1918, field hospital, 
Fontenoy. Buried Ambleny. Removed to Ploisy, Aisne, near Soissons. 




ROGER MARIE LOUIS BALBIANI 

Born April 8, 1887, in Paris, France. Son of Count and Countess Balbiani. 
Joined American Field Service, October 22, 1914; attached Section One. 
Commandant Adjoint, April 18, 1915, to December 10, 1915. Enlisted 
French Aviation, 1916. Trained Plessis-Belleville. Attached Escadrille 
Gaumont. Killed at Tours, May 21, 1918. Croix de Guerre, two stars and 
a palm. Buried at Paris, Seine. 



ROGER MARIE LOUIS BALBIANI 

Roger Balbiani was born in Paris some thirty years 
ago, and educated at a public school in England and on 
the continent. Coupled with his unusually genial nature 
was a certain savoir faire which made him at home in any 
gathering. He had in addition a care-free, joyous dis- 
position that enabled him to be happy and gay, however 
trying the circumstances. 

"Balbi's" history is that of Section One in the early 
days of 1914 and 1915 : Merville and the British, then 
Dunkirk, finally the terrible days of the first gas at- 
tacks at Elverdinghe, at Popperinghe, and along the 
Yser. When it was all over an army citation and *' Croix'' 
came to "Balbi" as leader of the Section. It was quite 
typical of his generous nature that later on he tried every 
means of having his Cross transferred to another man. 

After a year with the Field Service, Balbiani achieved 
his heart's desire, being admitted to the French aviation 
service. His dash and coolness made him an accom- 
plished pursuit pilot. In 191 7 he was sent back to an 
American flying center, where he made many loyal 
friends, but was killed soon after in an accident. 

The following are some of Henry Sydnor Harrison's 
impressions of the man : 

"'Seniority' does not always bring the best to the top, 
but when Balbiani succeeded to the leadership of Section 
One, I think nobody doubted that the mantle had fallen 
where it rightfully belonged. His unusual education was 
of course an advantage : in his contact with the French 
officers, our superiors, "Balbi" was himself, in every es- 
sential, a fine French officer. As to speech alone, I am 
positive that he was more at home with French than 
many Frenchmen. It amused him to note the surprised 
looks of pedestrians to whom he, from his car, shouted 
some necessary warning or bit of casual repartee. They 
could not understand how such racy argot came to be 
issuing from the lips of an American chauffeur. But the 

95 



ROGER MARIE LOUIS BALBIANI 



gift for leadership in him was beyond these chance ac- 
complishments. "Balbi" was blessed with the power of 
a personality at once decisive and humanly charming and 
persuasive. When need was, he could rule like another 
by the elementary method of the high hand, but his 
nature expressed itself most willingly through the kinder 
— and with him no less effective — means of suggestion. 
He abounded in tact and * sweet reasonableness * ; deeper 
than that, he was instinctively understanding, he had 
sensibilities of the heart. 

"On our first excited day behind Ypres, some one was 
needed for a trivial duty at the gare of Popperinghe. The 
writer, a newcomer, was plainly indicated for the in- 
glorious post, but when the chef came to break the un- 
welcome news to me, I remember that he was as reluc- 
tant and gentle as if my disappointment were his own. 
In fact, this young man had the gentleness which so often 
stirs the springs of a brave soul, and which, I am in- 
clined to think, is the most endearing of the qualities 
possessed by the sons of men. 

"Like many considerate and intuitive persons, 'Balbi*^ 
had also the continuing grace of humor. He loved to take 
and give a joke ; he had himself a subtle wit and I always 
think of him as merry, and the memory now can not 
separate him from his quick and understanding laugh. 
So he maintained under every circumstance, however 
difficult, that bearing of 'light humorous courage' which, 
in respect to a man's address and the manner of his at- 
tack upon life, is perhaps the last word of personal dis- 
tinction. 

"He saw me off at the Dunkirk station, the day I left 
the Service. We spoke and passed, and our courses did 
not recross ; but I have not forgotten his gay hail. Ardent 
and debonair, he gladly lived, and it can not be doubted 
that when his 'black minute' came, he met it as freely 
and laid him down with a will." 



96 



ALAN HAMMOND NICHOLS 

It is not the individual that counts, but the cause for 
which he labors. So Alan Nichols of Palo Alto believed. 
Though but a boy in years he has left a record stimulat- 
ing to all who came to know it. He distinguished him- 
self as a soldier, and will always be remembered by his 
friends for his modest and utterly selfless attitude toward 
life. 

When Alan Nichols enlisted as a volunteer in the first 
Stanford ambulance unit, the town in which he had lived 
was decidedly ''pacifist" in its viewpoint. The editor of 
the local daily, reading one of Nichols' letters, asked 
that he might publish it and others as a patriotic duty. 
Alan greatly disliked the publicity, but a reluctant con- 
sent was granted, and the letters became the feature of 
the local paper. Thus young Nichols was partly re- 
sponsible for swinging the locality into close sympathy 
with the Allies in the hitherto remote war. 

Perhaps the feature most striking about Nichols' let- 
ters is his impersonal attitude. He seems to sense the in- 
significance of the individual in such a war — except his 
responsibility to other millions. This sounds the key- 
note of his character, which was sustained during his 
whole career as a soldier. 

Nichols went to France in the February of 191 7, with 
Section Fourteen, recruited at Stanford, his university. 
After serving almost six months he enlisted in the French 
air service. He received his preliminary training at 
Avord, Tours, and Pau, went to Plessis-Belleville, and 
finally was assigned to chasse flying at the front. After a 
time, he was sent back to Plessis-Belleville to learn the 
operation of the new Spad. During the German advance 
of 1 91 8, Nichols saw continuous combat service over the 
lines. 

One morning early in June, Nichols was wounded while 
fighting off several German planes which had attacked 
him simultaneously. Though handling his machine so 

97 



ALAN HAMMOND NICHOLS 



adroitly that but one bullet hit him, he was wounded in 
a vital spot. However, he landed his machine within the 
French lines behind Compiegne and was rushed to a hos- 
pital. It was nine hours before he could be placed on the 
operating table, "owing to the unavoidable confusion at- 
tendant upon the German smash," his father says, "A 
Red Cross man who happened to be there writes us that 
the boy was game to the last and smilingly thanked the 
nurse for her kindness as he died." 

He was buried with full military honors in the army 
cemetery at Royallieu. Two French citations were 
awarded Nichols for his valor ; a Croix de Guerre with 
two palms, representing the two German planes offi- 
cially credited to him. He was recommended for the 
Medaille Militaire, but did not receive it, inasmuch as 
this honor is conferred only upon the living. 

A trait that made Nichols an ideal soldier is revealed 
in a letter after an air battle when he wrote, "Looking 
back over the day's action, I decided that 1 was too 
hasty, too excited, and too wild. I determined to take 
my time and be sure the next time." 

One of Nichols' citations characterized him as "An 
American citizen who is serving with the French Army 
for the duration of the war, an energetic pilot, brave, 
high spirited, a model of calmness and devotion to duty. 
Very grievously wounded while attacking an enemy 
plane, he nevertheless retained sufficient coolness and 
presence of mind to bring his machine back to our lines." 

Nichols was a youth of strongly appealing appearance 
and personality, and after his death, a chum wrote, 
"And this is the price that we must pay to beat the 
Hun — Alan Nichols. A finer, cleaner-lived boy I never 
knew." 



98 




ALAN HAMMOND NICHOLS 

Born January 7, 1897, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Son of Professor Walter H. 
and Esther Connor Nichols. Home, Palo Alto, California. Educated 
Monrovia and Pasadena schools, and Leland Stanford University, Class of 
1919. Joined American Field Service, February 14, 1917 ; attached Section 
Fourteen until July 23, 191 7. Enlisted French Aviation; trained Avord, 
Tours, Pau, Plessis-Belleville. Attached Spad Escadrille 85, Sergeant. Croix 
de Guerre, two army citations. Wounded June i, 1918, in action near 
Compiegne. Died of wounds, June 2, 1918, hospital, Compiegne. Buried 
with military honors, Royallieu, Oise. Body transferred to American Cem- 
etery near Ploisy, Aisne. 




DONALD ASA BIGELOW 

Born September 30, 1898, in Colchester, Connecticut. Son of Guy M. and 
Mary MacDonald Bigelow. Educated Colchester public schools, Miller 
Commercial School, New York, and Morse Business College, Hartford. 
Private secretary in Hartford, later with Stenotype Company, and short- 
hand court and public reporter, Boston. Joined American Field Service, 
March 12, 1917; attached Section Seventeen until August 30, 1917. En- 
tered U. S. Aviation ; First Lieutenant. Killed in aeroplane accident, near 
Paris, June 3, 1918. Buried American Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. Body to 
be transferred to Linwood Cemetery, Colchester, Connecticut. 



DONALD ASA BIGELOW 

"He had the makings of an *Ace' in him and would have 

been a top-notcher " Lieutenant Estey, 99th 

Aero Squadron, wrote of Donald Asa Bigelow. And he 
would have been a "top-notcher" in his later life as well 
as flying had he not died in service abroad. Business 
associates were alive to his abilities. "Anything he at- 
tempts will be done in a creditable manner," wrote one, 
and another, "He was very exceptionally daring and 
successful in his undertakings." He had made a remark- 
able success at school, the principal of his business col- 
lege remarking "Don" as "without exception the smart- 
est and youngest boy who ever graduated from the 
school." He was succeeding admirably in business as a 
reporter in Boston until he heard the call to war service. 
In the Field Service he was no less successful in winning 
the admiration and regard of his fellows for his quiet de- 
pendability and courage. Then one of his comrades in 
aviation says, " Don was acknowledged one of our finest 
pilots," and, continuing, "he lived nineteen years, nine- 
teen years of effort, accomplishment, and brightest suc- 
cess. Now he has attained that highest success, beyond 
which man can not aspire." 

Bigelow, the youngest of four brothers, was recalled by 
one of them as quiet and industrious even when a boy. 
He loved to hunt and fish, spending much of his life out 
of doors, and he entered into the gypsy life of the am- 
bulancier as zestfully as he had into his sports. " Don was 
always writing of the sunny side of the war and not much 
about what he was doing," says Dennis Bigelow, while 
Cecil, another brother, writes that "he always wrote very 
cheerful letters and seemed to be enjoying his experi- 
ences," the details of which never appeared in his letters. 

He was eager for service, writing in May, 191 7, from 
semi-repos, "Now that we are so near and yet so far, all 
the fellows are crying for action" — his cry no less than 
theirs. The action came. During the summer months, 

99 



DONALD ASA BIGELOW 



when attack and counter-attack at last, in August, won 
Mort Homme and Hill 304 for the French, " Big" worked 
unobtrusively and faithfully, gladly bearing always a 
little more than his share. When American troops ap- 
peared, Don felt that "with Old Glory in the fight, his 
and every other Yankee's place was fighting beneath her 
stars and stripes." So he entered aviation. 

Richard Varnum of Section 10, who died recently in 
France, an aviator, and one of his closest friends, said 
Don was "expert in all the essential acrobatics," and an- 
other aviator mentions his "excellent judgment." Don 
himself said, while training near Paris, shortly before his 
death, "It is all a big game. I am going out there to 
fight, and if I am not good enough or am unlucky, I may 
get 'biffed off' !" 

Lieutenant Bigelow, having trained with fast chasse 
planes, on June 3, 1918, took up an old Sopwith to test 
its wireless. He attempted to "zoom up" in his custom- 
ary speedy climb, the heavier machine side-slipped, and 
he crashed. Bigelow was taken to a Paris hospital, but 
never recovered consciousness, and died before they 
could operate. Surrounded by comrades, he was buried 
with military honors in the hillside cemetery near Paris. 

"I do not know much as to the circumstances of his 
death," a friend wrote, "but a thousand good fellows can 
testify how well he lived." Those who knew "Don" 

join wholeheartedly with the brother who said, " 

It is hard, but we are mighty proud of First Lieutenant 
Donald Asa Bigelow." 



100 



ARTHUR BLUETHENTHAL 

When Arthur Bluethenthal joined the Field Service in 
May, 191 6, he could not sign up for the full six months 
because he had a contract to coach the Princeton foot- 
ball team that fall. So it was arranged with the French 
authorities to reduce slightly in his case the period of en- 
listment. But, when the time came for him to return to 
America, it was his own deliberate choice to obtain a re- 
lease from his engagements at home and to continue the 
career which was to lead, from honor to honor and with- 
out one regret or looking back, to his death, two years 
later, in aerial combat above the German lines. 

In the fall of 19 16 the Field Service was expanding 
rapidly and "Bluie," as we called him, had come to the 
fore as a leader. He was the sort of man to whom others 
instinctively looked for guidance and the sort of man who 
radiated a spirit of ready and cheerful co-operation, qual- 
ities which were of great value, when every liner brought 
scores of new and undisciplined recruits from America 
and when the Service was extending its work to Northern 
Greece and Albania. 

"My life does not belong to me now," he wrote on one 
occasion to a friend in America. "It belongs to France, 
to the Allies, to the cause to which I have pledged it. 
And, if I should never come back, I do not want you to 
feel badly. I am glad I have had a chance to live in 
times like these and to do my bit for the future of the 

world At home it was a holiday all the time. 

Here it is the stern facts of life and death. And it is hard 
to explain the way we feel about it all, especially about 
France, we who have volunteered to fight for her." 

When America entered the war, "Bluie" was serving 
with Section Three in the Balkans. Returning with his 
Section to France in May, 191 7, he enlisted at once in the 
Foreign Legion, from which he was transferred to the Air 
Service. He received his preliminary training at Avord 
and later instruction at Pau. 

lOI 



ARTHUR BLUETHENTHAL 



After a four weeks' leave, which he spent with his par- 
ents in Wilmington, North Carolina, he joined an obser- 
vation group at the front. In this work he at once made 
his mark. "You remember," wrote a friend, "Bluie's 
easy-going, complacent confidence in football days? 
Well, it is still a part of him when we fly over the German 
lines. He gets in his plane and goes up and does his work 
just as calmly as he sits down to breakfast. That sort of 
nerve helps us all, the old flyers as well as the new." 

Towards the end of May, 1918, he was transferred from 
the French service to the American Naval Aviation. But 
he refused to leave his comrades while they were engaged 
in the desperate aerial fighting, which marked the second 
of the great German drives in 191 8. This gallant act was 
recorded in official dispatches and endeared him to his 
comrades in a way that only an airman who has flown at 
the front through an attack can fully appreciate. It was 
a fateful decision for "Bluie," for his life ended in this 
battle. He was killed "while directing distant artillery 
fire" on June 5th and buried with all military honors by 
his comrades in the cemetery at Esquennoy, near 
Breteuil, in the Amiens sector. 

He was cited posthumously in Army orders. A palm 
was also added to his Croix de Guerre. And, when news 
of his death reached Wilmington, where a host of friends 
had followed his career with increasing pride since first 
he went away to college, all business houses closed for an 
hour, all flags were flown at half mast, and a very im- 
pressive memorial service was held by the citizens in the 
Opera House. 

"Let us pause a moment," read the proclamation of 
the mayor, "and do honor to one who has died for us, 
died in the full strength of young manhood, died in the 
conflict of battle, and dying has emphasized the creed of 
the soldier — better a grave in France than citizenship 
in a dishonored country." 



102 




ARTHUR BLUETHENTHAL 

Born November i, 1891, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Son of Leopold 
and Johanna Bluethenthal. Educated Phillips Academy, Exeter, and 
Princeton University, Class of 19 13. Business, Tobacco Products Corpora- 
tion, New York. Joined American Field Service, May 6, 1916; attached 
Section Three, France and Balkans, until May 11, 1917- Croix de Guerre 
for conspicuous bravery around Verdun. Enlisted French Aviation, June 
7,1917. Trained Avord and Pau. Breveted September 22, 191 7. Leave in 
America. Attached observation groupe, Escadrille Breguet 227, March 17, 
1918, Sergent. Killed in combat over the lines, near Maignelay, June 5, 
1918, region of Amiens. Croix de Guerre with palm. Buried Esquennoy, 
Oise, north of Breteuil. Body transferred to Wilmington, North Carolina. 




GORDON KENNETH MacKENZIE 

Born January 31, 1887, in Concord Junction, Massachusetts. Son of Ken- 
neth T. and Adelaide H. MacKenzie. Educated Concord schools. Business, 
Hood Rubber Company, Stanley Automobile Company, and for himself. 
Joined American Field Service, November 11, 19 16; attached Sections 
Ten, in Balkans, and Two, in France. Enlisted U. S. Army Ambulance Ser- 
vice, September 26, 1917; attached Section 626. Died in Beauvais, June 
14, 1918, of wounds received in action near Montdidier, June 12th. Croix 
de Guerre, with palm. Buried in Beauvais, Oise. Body transferred to 
Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts, 



GORDON KENNETH MACKENZIE 

Gordon Kenneth Mackenzie, of Sections Ten and 
Two, was one of those genial, adaptable, and utterly un- 
selfish fellows who made the day seem bright, no matter 
how damp and cold and dark the dugout. "Mac," by 
reason of his unaffected cheerfulness, was always the 
life of a section. 

Several months before America entered the war, 
"Mac" joined the ambulance service. The second 
"Salonica" expedition, Section Ten, was being organ- 
ized, and he volunteered for service in the Balkans. 
Once there, his resourcefulness was ever taxed to keep 
the Section in high spirits in face of the never ending 
downpour of rain and difficulties besetting the unit. 
"Mac" made board walks between the tents to keep the 
Section above the pools of water. He erected a fence and 
dried the blankets when the sun came out occasionally. 
From an old gasoline can he made a stove ; another he 
converted into a shower bath. He elected himself Sec- 
tion barber. En route he organized an orchestra, that 
talent should not perish for want of practice, he himself 
playing alternately the flute and the saxophone. 

"Mac's" unit served six months in Albania, after 
which he was transferred to France. He joined Section 
Two, then stationed in the Verdun sector in the thick of 
the fighting. With this Section, which afterwards was 
Section 626, U. S. A. A. S., he served for nearly a year in 
Lorraine, on the Aisne, and on the Oise. In June, 1918,. 
the 48th Zouaves, to which the Section was attached, 
was thrown into the counter offensive near Montdidier.. 
The toll of wounded was frightful and the ambulances; 
were worked exhaustingly long hours. On June 12th 
"Mac" was in a hospital courtyard at Neufvy waiting 
for his car to be loaded, and meantime feeding some 
wounded Frenchmen. Without warning an ohus dropped, 
exploded, and blew an ambulance to pieces, killing sev- 
eral Frenchmen and wounding MacKenzie. 

103 



GORDON KENNETH MacKENZIE 



Though the wound was not fatal in itself, blood poison- 
ing set in, and "Mac's" life slipped away on June 14, 
1 91 8, in the Hospital at Beauvais. The nurses who at- 
tended him wrote of his patience and endurance, of his 
consideration for others in the ward, and of the fineness 
of character revealed even in his weakness. 

Everywhere he was a favorite. Learning of his death, 
a friend in another section wrote, "A man from 'Mac's* 
section came into the hospital to see me and told me of 
his death. He said that the unit would lose fifty per cent 
of its morale by his going. It was 'Mac,' he said, who 
faced the music always, encouraged the others, and made 
light of every trouble." 

MacKenzie's character is revealed unconsciously in his 
own letters. This extract, for instance, written from Al- 
bania, where "Mac's" heart strings were jerked by the 
misery of Albanian natives, usually overlooked by sol- 
diers. "Mac" wrote, "One case especially is that of the 
"Little Mother,' as I call her. This little mite of a girl, 
no bigger than a pint of cider, always comes around with 
a tiny fourteen months' old babe in her arms. She sits 
on the stone walk very patiently, waiting for our meal to 
end to see if she can scare up a stray piece of bread. 

"The first time I spotted her I sneaked back and 
pinched a large piece for her and also prevailed on the 
cook to give her a pail of left-over soup. I carried the 
soup for her as far as the main street. Then she took it 
in one hand, with the babe in the other arm, and toddled 
out of sight. It's the same old story with me. I just had 
to sneak around the corner and pull out my dirty hand- 
kerchief to wipe a few tears that began to run down my 
cheeks. I 'm certainly a hell of a soldier. I stopped at a 
little store and bought a little dress that I'm going to 
give her. I could n't find anything small enough for the 
thin little baby, but I'll try again." 



104 



FRANK LEAMAN BAYLIES 

"Pilot Baylies killed. Was burled with honors befit- 
ting hero," was the message dropped over the French 
lines by a German plane. 

Frank Leaman Baylies, the American "ace of aces," 
when he was brought down in flames over the German 
lines between Crevecoeur and Lassigny in June, 1918, 
began his war career and won his first decorations with 
the Field Service. He joined Section One in February, 

1 91 6, and, after serving with distinction on the Somme 
and in the battle of Verdun on the French front, he was 
one of the men selected to go with Section Three in 
October, 191 6, when it was offered the opportunity of 
serving with the French Army in the Balkans. 

"To know Baylies was to like him," Paul Rockwell 
cabled the Chicago Daily News when his death was con- 
firmed. " His outstanding qualities were those which real 
heroes possess. He was quiet, modest, and reticent on the 
ground. He was dashing, fearless, and indomitable in the 
air." 

Baylies destroyed his first German aeroplane in Febru- 
ary, 1 91 8. Five months later, when he departed on his 
last mission, he had twelve official and five unofficial vic- 
tories to his credit. No pilot in any army rose more 
quickly or deservedly to fame. " Baylies seems to add to 
the daring of a Guynemer the precision of a Dorme. He 
is a great ace who does honor to America and is a worthy 
rival of our most famous champions," wrote the aviation 
expert of Le Petit Journal when the young American's 
name began to appear almost daily in the communiques. 

Baylies enlisted in the French aviation corps when he 
returned with Section Three from the Balkans in May, 

1917. He received his training in the schools of Avord, 
Pau, and Cazeaux^ where his record foreshadowed his 
later victories and caused him to be selected for service 
at the front with the celebrated "Escadrille Cigogne," 
the squadron which Guynemer commanded until his 

105 



FRANK LEAMAN BAYLIES 



death, and which included among its members many of 
the most noted flyers in the French army. 

No one was allowed to wear the insignia of this famous 
squadron until he had brought down three German 
planes. Baylies lost no time in doing this. From the first 
his comrades spoke of him as a tireless flyer, who, in ad- 
dition to his regular patrol work, spent many hours 
prowling the skies alone in search of aerial duels. " Bay- 
lies' fighting tactics," wrote a friend, "were extremely 
simple. When he saw enemy aeroplanes he immediately 
attacked regardless of the odds against him or the dis- 
tance within the enemy lines." 

But his was not the reckless fearlessness of a man who 
did not realize the risk he ran. The testimony of all of 
his comrades is that his daring was the well-considered, 
open-eyed courage of a remarkable flyer who counted the 
cost but never hesitated. In his many aerial duels his 
plane was not once struck by an opponent's bullet, al- 
though, when he first reached the front, he was brought 
down between the German and French lines by machine 
gun fire from the ground. 

Baylies was awarded the Legion d'Honneur, the 
Medaille Militaire, and the Croix de Guerre with seven 
palms. The city of his birth has named a square after 
him with solemn services. He has a high place in all that 
has been written about the war in the air and those in- 
trepid airmen "who took their toll" and then made the 
great sacrifice. Those who mourn him are consoled by 
the knowledge that he belongs to the noble company 
which will be remembered in two countries so long as 
there is any interest in the World War and any reverence 
for its heroes. 



1 06 




FRANK LEAMAN BAYLIES 

Born September 23, 1895, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Son of Ex- 
Lieutenant Charles S. Baylies, U. S. A., and Lydia T. Baylies. Educated 
New Bedford schools and Moses Brown School, Providence, Rhode Island. 
Business with father as salesman. Joined American Field Service, Febru- 
ary 26, 1916 ; attached Section One, later Section Three in Balkans, October, 
1916, to May II, 1917. Croix de Guerre. Enlisted French Aviation, May 
21, 1917. Trained Avord, Pau, Cazeaux. Breveted September 20, 1917. 
Attached Stork Escadrille, Spad 3, December 18, 191 7. Promoted succes- 
sively to Corporal, Sergeant, and proposed for Second Lieutenant. Offered 
commission in U. S. Aviation as Second Lieutenant, May 13, 1918. Twelve 
official victories. Legion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre, seven palms, 
Medaille Militaire, Aero Club of America's Medal. Killed in action over 
the German lines, June 17, 1918, near Rollot, Oise, southeast of Mont- 
didier. Buried Courcelles-Epayelles, Oise. 




EDWARD TRAFTON HATHAWAY 

Born October 26, 1892, in Denison, Texas. Son of E. T. and Lily Bacon 
Hathaway. Educated Denison and Oklahoma City schools, and New Mex- 
ico and Virginia Military Institutes. In business with Southwestern Gen- 
eral Electric and Texas Companies, Houston, Texas. Joined American 
Field Service, March 12, 1917; attached Section Seventeen, to July 7, 
1917, as Sous-Chef. Entered U. S. Aviation. Trained Tours. Breveted 
November 3, 1917. Commissioned First Lieutenant, December 3, 1917. 
Attached 90th Aero Squadron. Flight Commander. Killed in aeroplane 
accident, June 25, 1918. Buried at Base Hospital Number One, near Toul. 
Body transferred to American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle. 
Ultimately to be transferred to Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia. 



EDWARD TRAFTON HATHAWAY 

The French came during the War to recognize, admire, 
and love as truly American that tall, broad-shouldered, 
smooth-chinned, slow of speech and quiet type of which 
Edward Trafton Hathaway was a perfect example. 

His splendid build and the sturdiness of character that 
went with it served him well at New Mexico and Vir- 
ginia Military Institutes, where he played football for 
three years. There he was "rated a good athlete and a 
good student." Colonel Wise, then Commandant of 
Cadets at the Virginia school, regarded him "as a most 
efficient soldier of fine qualities and bearing." 

In 1913 he entered the Southwestern General Electric 
and subsequently joined the Texas Company of Houston, 
which he left to go to France. 

As Sous-Chef in the field near Verdun, "Hath" was 
cordially liked by the fellows in Section Seventeen, and 
was a chum rather than their officer. He perhaps failed 
to observe the necessary formalities which keep a leader 
a little apart from the recreations of his men and entered 
too readily into their fun, but in so doing he became 
more their intimate and sympathetic friend than he other- 
wise could have. 

For a time he had trouble with his ears, and in July 
left the Section. After treatment in Paris, "Hath" en- 
tered aviation, writing home, "The work will be danger- 
ous, but as far as that goes, all the branches are danger- 
ous in this war and I am going to do my part I 

am going to make you proud of me." Training at Tours 
he wrote, " I 'd rather be a private in aviation and pilot a 
machine than a captain in infantry, but I 'm going to get 
my 'wings' and a First Lieutenancy or know the reason 
why!" "Hath" secured his brevet from the French, No- 
vember 3, 191 7, and a month later his American "wings" 
and commission. Until May, 1918, he remained as in- 
structor at Tours then went to the front with the 90th 
Aero Squadron, where he became a flight commander. 

107 



EDWARD TRAFTON HATHAWAY 



A comrade called him "above all, a man confident and 
enthusiastic over his work." His enthusiasm is reflected 
in his own words : " I am in the highest and best branch 
of the army. In fact, it is going to win the war," and 
again, "There are going to be 100,000 men slaughtered 
before Uncle Sam knows what has happened. Then we 
are going to settle down and conscientiously whip the 
Boche to a standstill." 

In October he had written, " I like flying very much 
and am just lucky enough to come through the war all 
right. If I don't, you can have the satisfaction of know- 
ing that your son was among the first to fight for you and 
America, and was not a slacker." His "luck" stood by 
him when his plane was destroyed in collision with an- 
other and neither pilot injured, also when his motor 
failed and he made a forced landing in a plowed field, 
unhurt. On June 25th, in the freshness of the summer 
morning, starting out on a mission over the lines, as 
"Hath" climbed, circling above the field, "in some in- 
explicable manner," as a brother aviator wrote, "the ma- 
chine became uncontrollable and fell Trafton 

died instantly without pain, and his observer within an 
hour." 

And it may be that, at the last, his "luck" still held 
to bring that quick, heroic, painless end to the boy-man 
who had cried so bravely, "I am going to make you 
proud of me!" 



108 



WARREN TUCKER HOBBS 

"Don't worry," wrote Warren Tucker Hobbs, "Flying 
is the most fascinating game I ever played. It is even 
better than hurdling." He loved to play the game, this 
tall, clean-limbed athlete, and, as a brother flyer said, 
"The qualities which served him on the track made him 
a fearless and a skilful pilot." By this same skill and 
courage in combat, Warren won the confidence of all his 
comrades, to whom from the start "his ready humor 
and constant desire to help others endeared him might- 
ily." Which helps to explain how bitterly his loss was 
felt among his fellows, when, within a month of joining 
the 103d Pursuit Squadron, he was killed, his machine 
being struck by an anti-aircraft shell and falling inside 
the British lines. "The news dazed me for days," said a 
classmate; "He was one of the finest, dearest chaps I 
have ever known, and the world has lost a real man." 

As a schoolboy Warren won great popularity and prom- 
inence through his running. Yet, while "one of the great- 
est hurdlers and high jumpers any preparatory school 

ever had, in everything he showed an engaging 

modesty." Entering Dartmouth with the Class of 191 9. 
his athletic success waxed greater, but even without it a 
man of Warren's character must have won hosts of 
friends. As it was, he became in two years one of the big 
figures of his college generation, captaining the college 
track team as a sophomore. He set up a world's record 
in indoor hurdling in competition with the best runners 
in collegiate circles, and was frequently referred to as a 
"one man track team." 

But for Warren Hobbs these games, however engross- 
ing, were secondary to the one big game of living and 
doing one's part in life according to one's ideals. Warren 
gave up college soon after war was declared and joined a 
Dartmouth unit of the American Field Service. Even as 
he went to the front with Transport Section 526 of the 
Reserve Mallet, he was planning eagerly to transfer to 

109 



WARREN TUCKER HOBBS 



aviation, and inside of a month secured his release from 
the Field Service. Two days later he enlisted in the 
French air service. After the regulation training at 
Avord, Tours, Pau, and Plessis-Belleville, he served with 
two Spad Escadrilles, N-153 and N-158, until March, 
191 8, when he was commissioned a First Lieutenant in 
American Aviation and went to the 103d Pursuit Squad- 
ron. Several times he narrowly escaped death or cap- 
ture. His first accident came as he was returning on 
January 30, 1918, from patrol over the German lines. 
His gasoline gave out, he was forced to land in rough 
ground and his plane turned over, injuring him quite 
badly. Immediately upon leaving the hospital he re- 
turned to his escadrille, only to have another fall. This 
time fortunately he received hardly a scratch. 

In Flanders, southeast of Ypres, his last adventure 
came to Warren Hobbs. At half past seven in the even- 
ing of June 26 he rose from his field alone, attempting 
to overtake his patrol which had left some minutes 
earlier. He flew toward the lines, gaining altitude as he 
went, but, because his engine was not functioning prop- 
erly, crossed into German territory still quite low. Then 
the unusual occurred. His machine was struck by a 
shell. In the words of a flyer: "An angry black pufT 
sprang out close beside the distant plane, which veered 
and fell flaming in the British lines." There he is buried 
in the consecrated ground of Flanders. 

Warren's own words, written of men he had seen die 
in action, apply aptly to him who followed them, "Just 
the same, you can't help thinking what a wonderful way 
it is to die ; and I know there is nothing too good in the 
world beyond for a man who dies game, fighting for the 
right- 



no 




WARREN TUCKER HOBBS 
Born November ^, 1805, in Worcester, Massachusetts. Son of Wilber W. 
LdMarL Tucker Hobbs. Educated Worcester Classical High School, 
Worcester Academy, and Dartmouth College. Class of X919. J^^^ ^men- 
can Field Service, May 5, 19^7 ; attached Transport Section 526 until June 
8 IQ17 Enlisted French Aviation, June 10, 1917. Attached Escadnlles 
N IS3 and N 158, December 11, 1917, to March 16, 1918 as Corporal. 
Entered U. S. Aviation ; attached 103d Pursuit Squadron Killed by anti- 
aircraft fire over the lines near Ypres on June 26, 1918. Buned m British 
Military Cemetery, Poperinghe, West Flanders, Belgium. 




GOODWIN WARNER 

Born January 17, 1887, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Son of William P. 
and Hetty Rogers Goodwin Warner. Educated Cambridge and Thatcher 
schools, California, Noble and Greenough School, Boston, and Harvard 
University, Class of 1909. In business. Stone and Webster, Boston ; farmed 
at Littleton, Massachusetts ; traveled in tropics. Joined American Field 
Service, June 2, 191 7 ; attached Transport Sections 184 and 133. Enlisted 
U. S. Army Motor Transport Corps ; commissioned Second Lieutenant 
Q. M. C. Died of pneumonia, June 29, 1918, American Camp Hospital 
Number 4, at Joinville-le-Pont, Seine. Buried Suresnes, Seine. 



GOODWIN WARNER 

■"Nobody ever saw him down on his luck." This a close 
friend writes of Goodwin Warner, adding, "It was a 
source of wonder that he was never heard to complain 
of his misfortune." For in childhood had begun his weary 
struggle against a severe chronic asthma. It affected his 
entire career and caused an amount of actual suffering 
which few of his friends ever realized, because he hid it. 
Yet through all his life he retained his "very keen sense 
of humor and an even disposition which allowed him to 
take things as he found them." Courage and good nature 
were two of his many fine qualities and although long 
periods of illness prevented his joining in the life and ac- 
tivities of his friends, "he made hundreds of them." 

After two years in California and two winters in the 
Maine woods, he went to Noble and Greenough School 
in Boston and entered Harvard in the Class of 1909, with 
which he graduated. As a sophomore he recovered from 
a dangerous attack of pneumonia, "largely," writes a 
friend, "because of the grit and determination which his 
chronic sickness had developed." After graduating he en- 
tered the office of Stone and Webster, Boston, but un- 
able to stand the confinement of office work, he bought a 
farm in Littleton, Massachusetts, and began raising 
apples. About a year before the war he sold his orchards 
and devoted the intervening time chiefly to travel in the 
tropics, studying natural history. This was his hobby, 
his interest being most particularly in ornithology, and 
he was an authority on New England birds. 

With the coming of war Goodwin, anxious to get into 
the service and not waiting for the departure of the regu- 
lar organizations, sailed independently for France, joined 
the American Field Service, and in June, 191 7, was sent 
to Transport Section 184 of the Reserve Mallet, where 
he became Sous-Chef. In October, having graduated 
from the French Automobile Officers' School at Meaux, 
he became Commandant Adjoint of T. M. 133. When the 

III 



GOODWIN WARNER 



American Army took over the Reserve, Goodwin was 
commissioned a Second Lieutenant and placed in com- 
mand of Company 360 of the Motor Transport Corps. 
The Commanding Officer of the American Mission wrote 
that he "rendered very valuable and efficient service. 
During the past critical weeks his efforts and enthusi- 
asm were continued and indefatigable, and won for him 
the deep appreciation of the French and American offi- 
cers associated with him, and his promotion to the com- 
mand of a groupe which was announced during his last 
illness." For a month or more in memory of him this 
groupe bore his name. 

During the spring of 191 8 his company was under ex- 
cessive strain and although he already felt the touch of 
the influenza epidemic, Goodwin Warner threw himself 
into the work with every bit of his energy. As a con- 
scientious leader he stayed for days and nights on the 
road with his men. He fell sick, pneumonia developed 
rapidly, and on June 26th he was taken to the hospital 
at Joinville-le-Pont, east of Paris, where he died two 
days later. 

Commandant Mallet spoke thus at the military fu- 
neral : "His fellow officers cannot speak too highly of 
him as a good and trusty friend ; his men have always 
known him as a kind and reliable leader. As for myself, 
it is my desire to acknowledge before you all the deep 
debt of gratitude the French Army owes to Lieutenant 
Warner, who came to serve our country before his own 
needed him and who has ever since been performing his 
military duties with such devotion and efficiency. In the 
name of the Director of the French Automobile Service, 
in the name of my Reserve, I wish him a last farewell, 
and address the expression of our deep sympathy to his 
family and to those who are mourning to-day an affec- 
tionate friend, a promising officer, and a perfect gentle- 
man." 



112 



GEORGE WAITE GOODWIN 

''First or last the war will come very close to most of us: 
and we would n't have it otherwise. My greatest horror 
would be to have to occupy a place of safety. We who 
can take an active part are fortunate. If anything should 
happen to me I would call my family foolish if they 
were n't glad rather than sad that I had done so well." 

George Waite Goodwin wrote this from France to 
cheer and comfort a girl friend who had lost her husband 
in the war ten days after her marriage, little thinking 
perhaps the solace it was to be to his family in the event 
of his own not-distant death. His attitude toward all the 
perplexing problems of life was like this, — simple^ 
straightforward, and clear-seeing. "Certainly one could 
hunt through the histories from the beginning and never 
find a better time to live or better cause to die for." lit 
the light of his own high-minded patriotism it was not 
difficult for his family to be courageous even when, a 
month later, there came the news that he had been 
killed. It happened on the morning of July 15, 1918, at 
Chateauroux. One of his friends of school and college 
days. Lieutenant Norman C. Fitts, who was in training 
with him at the time, describes the accident with the 
dramatic brevity of aviators : "There is not much to tell 
of it. A collision at one hundred meters height in which 
neither he nor the man who ran into him saw the other 
until too late." He was buried next day with full mili- 
tary honors in the beautiful American Cemetery of 
Chateauroux. 

Goodwin graduated with honors from Andover in 191 z 
and, after four happy, conscientious years, from Yale. 
He spent a year at the Harvard Law School, but inter- 
rupted his course to enter the American Field Service on 
June 25, 191 7. He was sent out to Section Sixty-nine and 
spent the summer near Verdun, evacuating wounded 
from the famous posts of Bras and Vacherauville. In 
October he enlisted in the American Air Service. En- 

"3 



GEORGE WAITE GOODWIN 



tering immediately upon his period of apprenticeship he 
was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on May 15, 19J8, 
and had advanced so rapidly in training that in the 
words of Lieutenant Fitts, "he promised to be the first 
to get through." For his work at the French aviation 
school of Chateauroux, upon recommendation of the 
commander, he received the medal of the Ligue Aero- 
nautique de France as one of the most meritorious pupils. 
He had a keen, interested way of looking at events and 
persons, and was often picturesque in expressing what 
he saw. In one letter written in the Ambulance service 
he described how he watched the fr'ont line in action 
through holes in the cloth camouflage by the roadside, 
and compared himself to a small boy peering through a 
rip in the tent of "a circus of which I could see only 
enough to whet my curiosity." The charm of his frank, 
open personality won friends for him everywhere, one of 
whom wrote, "He could n't help but be popular with us 
and he was easily that one of us who was best liked by 
the French officers and instructors at the school." While 
at a camp near Tours, shortly after he had enlisted in 
aviation, he tells in his diary of walking home from Tours 
with the cool evening breeze blowing against his face and 
the countryside soft and mellow in the twilight, and of 
thinking out his duty in regard to the war. That night 
he wrote, " It is quite fixed now in my mind that if ever 
I return to the front I will go up against the Germans, — 
no matter how many they may be." It was his tragedy, 
like that of many others, never to have had the oppor- 
tunity of meeting the enemy face to face, but a circum- 
stance so trivial cannot dim the luster of his courage, nor 
the glory of his death. 



114 




GEORGE WAITE GOODWIN 

Born July 31, 1895, in Glen Falls, New York. Son of Scott DuMont and 
Sarah Waite Goodwin. Home, Albany, New York. Educated Phillips 
Academy, Andover ; Yale University, Class of 1916 ; and Harvard Law 
School, Class of 1919. Plattsburg, 1916, Marksman. Joined American 
Field Service, June 25, 191 7 ; attached Section Sixty-nine until October 24, 
1917. Enlisted U. S. Aviation, November 5 ; trained Tours, Saint-Maixent, 
Gondrecourt, and Chateauroux. Commissioned Second Lieutenant, May 
15, 1 91 8. Killed in aeroplane accident, Chiteauroux, July 15, 1918. 
Buried American Cemetery, Chiteauroux, Indre. Body transferred to 
Hural Cemetery, Albany, New York. 




RANDOLPH ROGERS 

Born October 26, 1897, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Son of John R. and 
Grace H. Rogers. Educated Grand Rapids High School, Class of 1916. 
Joined American Field Service, April i, 1916 ; attached Section Eight to 
September 13, 1916. Ill, typhoid. Returned to America, October, 1916. 
University of Michigan until February, 191 7. To New Mexico recuperating 
from breakdown. Enlisted as Private, U. S. Infantry, July, at Columbus 
Barracks. K Company, 38th Regiment, Syracuse, New York. Promoted 
to Corporal, then Sergeant. Reached France, April, 1918. Killed by shell, 
inaction July 15, 1918, near St. Eugene, east of Chateau-Thierry. Buried 
American Cemetery, Fere-en-Tardenois, Aisne. 



RANDOLPH ROGERS 

Randolph Rogers was but eighteen years of age and 
just completing the last year of his high school course 
when he enlisted in the American Field Service in April, 
1916. Yet he did the work of a man with Section Eight 
on the Champagne and Verdun fronts during the spring 
and summer of that year. His commanding officer wrote 
of him : "He was one of the original members of Section 

Eight and the youngest member at that. He 

was always one who could be relied upon to do the job 
given him, no matter how difficult, and to go about it 
quietly and efficiently. He was deeply interested in his 
work and all that was going on around him. Later he was 
badly affected by dysentery, but continued his work. 
He would lie on his cot and sleep until his turn came and 
then always insisted upon taking his place." 

While in Paris on a forty-eight hour leave, July 4, 
191 6, he was found to be suffering from typhoid fever 
and was cared for in the American Hospital at Neuilly 
until September. On returning to this country about 
October first, he entered the University of Michigan, but 
in February, 191 7, his health again broke down and he 
was sent to New Mexico to recuperate. 

It is a noteworthy fact that on his return to Grand 
Rapids in June he made no effort to secure a commission 
or an easy berth on this side of the water, although fully 
realizing from his past experiences what war meant. In- 
stead, as one of his classmates wrote : "He immediately 
enlisted as a 'buck private,' for he knew where he could 
do the most good for Uncle Sam." After five weeks at 
Columbus Barracks he was sent to Syracuse and there 
assigned to K Company, 38th Infantry, in which organi- 
zation he served until his death. He was made corporal 
in November, 191 7, and sergeant in April, 191 8, soon 
after his arrival in France with the 3rd Regular Division 
of Infantry. After training near Chaumont, the regi- 
ment was sent to the front on May 30th, serving on the 

115 



RANDOLPH ROGERS 



Marne, west of Chateau-Thierry, until the German 
retreat. 

Randolph was killed by an exploding shell on the morn- 
ing of July 15, 1918. A fellow sergeant in K Company 
wrote: "Our company was located near a small village 
called St. Eugene, in the vicinity of Chateau-Thierry and 
about a mile from the Marne River. At exactly mid- 
night of the 14th of July the Germans commenced a ter- 
rific artillery fire directed over the entire sector. At day- 
break the whole company came from their dugouts, 
forming a line to meet the Germans who were expected at 
any moment. I saw your son come down and fall into 
line about fifty feet from me, but as the shelling was 
terrific I did not Imake an effort to speak to him for some 
time. After I had helped locate the men I called to him, 
and receiving no answer, crawled over to where he had 
been, and they said that a shell had just hit him. He died 
about three hours later." 

Randolph Rogers played his part to the end in the 
great drama. Unusually well built for his age, with fine 
features and a charming personality, he immediately won 
the affection of anyone who had the good fortune to be 
thrown with him. As a proof of this sentiment, the fol- 
lowing letter to his father from a comrade is sufficient : 

"I assure you that your sorrow is shared by every 
soldier who knew your son and that his name will ever 
be mentioned by what few K Company men are left as 
the model which we wish our sons to follow if they ever 

have the misfortune to take part in any war One 

of the bravest men who ever wore the uniform of any 
country." 



116 



JOHN RALSTON GRAHAM 

Loathing the war intensely, frankly fatalistic about its 
outcome for him, Lieutenant John Ralston Graham was 
yet of the calibre which voluntarily precipitates itself 
into the most hazardous and hardworking branch of the 
service, wins a Croix de Guerre and special recognition 
for individual merit, and dies on the battlefield, leading 
his men in an attack. War held no glamour for him. As 
arj ambulance driver in 1915-16, in Bois-le-Pretre, and 
in the first battle of Verdun he saw much of its terror and 
sordidness. He won his Croix de Guerre for bravery in 
rescuing women and children at Bar-le-Duc, where he 
dro/e his ambulance through an especially venomous air 
raic during the battle of Verdun. Although he returned 
to the United States at the expiration of his eight 
moiths' service with Section Two of the American Field 
Service, as soon as America declared war, he entered the 
For, Niagara officers' training camp, graduating as a 
Lieitenant, and returned to France early in September, 
191;, as one of the first fifty of our men to reach the 
batilefront. From that time on until his death he was 
in amost constant action and participated in nearly all 
the jreat battles preceding the Soisson's offensive. 

Ai a Lieutenant of Infantry with the Eighteenth Regi- 
men; he experienced all of the hardships and horrors that 
only can fall to the infantryman's lot. His letters tell 
with marvelous vividness of twenty-one day stretches 
in tie front line trenches, short relief, then immediate 
re tun to the fighting. They tell, too, of combat patrols 
planied and executed by him, and of attacks in which 
there were "intervals, minutes mostly, which I don't 
want ever to recall, when I have been at my lowest, 
nothng but a beast, yelling, cursing, crying, alternately 
— ccisumed with but one thought — to kill, kill, kill." 

Tbugh he revolted from it all, he worked untiringly, 
and lis record shows steady advancement. Shortly be- 
fore lis death he was appointed Intelligence Officer, and 

117 



JOHN RALSTON GRAHAM 



already he had been recommended for the rank of 
captain. 

He died in the Soissons offensive, which marked the 
beginning of the end of the War, being killed in the tur- 
moil of battle on July i8, 1918, bya fragment of flying 
shell. Of his death Reverend Murray Bartlett, Chaplaii 
of the Eighteenth Infantry, wrote, " Indeed you have the 
consolation that the sacrifice of his splendid young man- 
hood was part of the price paid for one of the critical 
victories of all history " 

In the same strain a companion wrote, "This war takes 

the bravest and the best Yet, speaking for ny- 

self, it seems to me that if my time to go had arrived I 
should ask nothing better than to fall at the high tide of 
a charge, leading men on to a victory which has prcved 

to be the turning point of the whole war \our 

son was respected universally as a courageous, capable, 
and promising officer. He lived up to the confidence re- 
posed in him." 

How great is the respect and pride which his menory 
commands, appears from the letters of his friends, dl of 
whom, without a single exception, express the privlege 
and honor they felt in sharing his friendship. One writes, 
" It does n't seem possible that great, big, carefree 'foe,' 
whom we all depended on, and looked up to, has Deen 
killed. My pride in him is the only thing which could 
possibly cheer me up. I have lost one of the best frjends 
a fellow could have — but how proud I am to hav^ had 
such a wonderful friend." 

Another adds, " I am proud and honored to have kiown 
Ralston all these years, and to have been one of highest 
and dearest friends. We all loved him. A brave nun, a 
true gentleman, and a never-failing friend will bt our 
memory of him always." 



118 




JOHN RALSTON GRAHAM 

Born December 29, 1890, in Philadelphia. Son of John T. and Anne 
Ralston Graham. Educated Episcopal Academy, Philadelphia, and Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, Class of 1914. Engineer on Panama Canal, 1913, 
later with Pennsylvania Railroad. Joined American Field Service, Novem- 
ber 17, 1915 ; attached Section Two until May 17, 1916. Croix de Guerre. 
Returned to United States. Entered Fort Niagara Training Camp. Com- 
missioned First Lieutenant. To France, September, 1917, with i8th In- 
fantry. Recommended for Captaincy. Killed in action, July 18, 1918, be- 
tween Cutry and St. Pierre-Aigle, south of Soissons. Buried there, later 
transferred to American Cemetery at Ploisy. Now buried in West Laurel 
Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 




CARLETON BURR 

Born August 29, 1891, in Milton, Massachusetts. Son of I. Tucker and 
Alice M, Peters Burr. Educated Noble and Greenough School, Boston, 
Milton Academy, and Harvard University, Class of 1913. Plattsburg 
Camp. Grenfell Mission. With Kidder, Peabody and Company and Paul 
Revere Trust Company, Joined American Field Service, February 12, 
1916 ; attached Section Two, as C/fcf with Section Nine, August, 1916, to 
January 21, 191 7. Returned to America. Enlisted U. S. Marine Corps, 
June. Commissioned Lieutenant, training at Quantico, Virginia, attached 
6th Regiment Marines. Battallion Intelligence Officer. Gassed, Belleau 
Wood, June, 1918. Killed in action near Vierzy, July 19, 1918. Burial 
place unknown. 



CARLETON BURR 

**// nefaut pas Hre difficile, c'est la guerre,*' wrote Carle- 
ton Burr while an ambulance driver with the American 
Field Service ; " This philosophy has actually already be- 
come a part of my existence, and I assure you that the 
constant rumble of artillery is more musical to my ear 
than the sordid drone of the ticker." 

While in college he spent a summer with the Grenfell 
Mission in Newfoundland and Labrador, and after grad- 
uating from Harvard in 191 3, made a hunting trip in the 
mountains of Wyoming. Returning to Boston in Oc- 
tober, he was associated with several banking houses 
until 1 91 6. In February, Carleton Burr turn'fed his back 
on the "droning tickers" and joined the allied armies in 
France. He enlisted in the American Field Service going 
to Section Two, near Verdun, where he found the sec- 
tion in the midst of the terrific battle. 

Carleton fitted at once into his place. He wished al- 
ways for the most active work, "and the longer the 
hours the more he threw himself into the work, but in 
work or play he always added to his list of friends." "I 
have come not only to like him personally, which any- 
one would at first glance, but also to have real esteem 
for his abilities, and his qualities of mind and character," 
wrote the chief of the Service at this time, saying that he 
was "fitted by his tact and his unusual combination of 
gentleness, energy, and force to meet the very difficult 
task of handling a group of volunteers." 

This, with his loyal service and fine spirit, led to Burr's 
selection in June as Chef of newly formed Section Nine. 
August saw them established in the Vosges where 
"Chubby" wrote of the seeming inactivity: "Patience 
in times such as this is the hardest virtue to acquire. 
Luckily nothing but solitary confinement can prevent 
the forming of friendships. ..." "At every turn one 
finds a new situation, a new experience, staring one in 
the face, which no matter how impossible it may seem 

119 



CARLETON BURR 



at first, can be overcome with a sense of humor." This 
was the philosophy with which Carleton met the life of 
the war — and death. 

Returning to America in February, 191 7, Burr, after 
some months in business, enlisted in the Marine Corps. 
He was one of two hundred and fifty men accepted as 
officers out of four thousand applicants and was sent to 
Quantico, Virginia, for training. Only six weeks later 
"Chubby" was assigned a command and sent to France. 
General Catlin says: "Because of his initiative and 
daring he was made intelligence officer of the 1st Brigade 
and achieved some remarkable successes at patrol work." 
Burr had charge of the snipers which he called a "not 
particularly healthy duty," but the ability to laugh at 
dangers and discomforts never deserted him. Of his 
first "hitch " in the trenches he wrote : " Can you imagine 
Hiving for twenty days in the upper berth of a Pullman, 
which is dripping water from the roof and is literally in- 
fested with rats? Everything, however, you take as a 
joke." Unconsciously, in speaking of his men, he shows 
how he had won their admiration and devotion, when he 
says "The enemy will never get me, for I have the most 
wonderful crew of youngsters to follow me. They would 
never leave me, dead or wounded, to the mercy of the 
Huns." 

During the fighting at Belleau Wood in June "Chub- 
by" was gassed and invalided to Angers. Upon leaving 
the hospital he marched in the parade in Paris on Bastille 
Day and rejoined his command July i8th, when the new 
offensive really began. 

Next morning, leading his men in a successful wave of 
the big attack, Carleton Burr was struck in the side by a 
piece of shrapnel, and fell. "In the land he loved next 
to his own he will always lie, content that he could give 
his all to the greatest cause of the age." 



120 



STUART MITCHELL STEPHEN TYSON 

With a courage and a conviction characteristic of so 
many of our American soldiers, Stuart Mitchell Tyson 
gave his life to France and her Cause willingly, con- 
sciously, considering it a privilege. It was his final 
protest against a world wrong — it was his glorious con- 
secration to the simple faith that Right is Might in a 
christianized world. Literally, and confidently, he 
"died to make men free." 

Sergeant Tyson was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 
March 12, 1898. He was educated at a school in Oxford, 
England, and at the Haverford School, Pennsylvania. 
In 1915 he entered the Midvale Steel Company. A year 
later he left for France as an ambulance driver, serving 
with Section One along the Verdun front in the hard 
winter of 191 6- 17 when the French division, with which 
it served, was engaged in the recovery of Vaux and Dou- 
aUmont. At the end of six months he enlisted in the 
French Army as an aviator, and after the necessary 
period of training was breveted, and sent to the front in 
December, 191 7, where he served with the Esquadrille 
Spad 85 until July 19, 1918, the day of his death. He 
was killed in action near Chateau-Thierry, while attack- 
ing eight German monoplanes. In recognition of his 
heroism he received the Croix de Guerre with palm. 

The following extracts from letters to his father are 
characteristic of the spirit of this man. On May i, 
191 7 he wrote : "I am delrg*hted with my work here, in 
the ambulance service, and am wrapped up in the cause 

of France. I have decided to give myself to her 

Knowing your sentiments on the war, I am sure you will 
have no objections to my doing what little I can for 
France. Dear Father, I realize that my chances for 
getting through are pretty slim, but it is well worth it by 
my having a chance to help crush those devils." 

And just a year later, May i, 1918, he writes from the 
Aviation Service, "We have been constantly moving 

121 



STUART MITCHELL STEPHEN TYSON 

from place to place, and are now right in the thick of the 
big battle. What a sight it is, seen from the air. The 
endless train of men and supplies coming up from the 
rear, the narrow strip of No-Man's Land with its cloud 
of smoke and fire caused by the never ceasing rain of 
shells, and above, the German planes circling, in and out 
of the clouds, like great birds waiting for a chance to 
strike. Our group has been assigned to shooting up the 
German column as they march up from the rear. We 
fly very low, so you can imagine what two machine guns 
on each aeroplane, flying full in the face of the enemy, 
can do. It is very exciting work. We are in the tra- 
jectory of shells from both sid^, with anti-craft guns 
shooting up. I have had awfully good luck. Not been 
touched yet, although my machine has been badly hit 
twice." 

An appreciation from his commanding officer attrib- 
utes to him all of the highest qualifications of a real man 
and soldier. 

"Stephen Tyson was a brave and capable pilot, al- 
ways ready to do more than his duty, and was beloved 
by all his comrades in the Esquadrille." 



122 




STUART MITCHELL STEPHEN TYSON 

Born March 12, 1898, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Son of Reverend Stuart 
L. and Katharine Rosengarten Tyson. Home, Princeton, New Jersey. 
Educated school in Oxford, England, and Haverford School, Pennsylvania. 
Midvale Steel Company, 1915. Joined American Field Service, October 14, 
1916 ; attached Section One until April 14, 1917. Enlisted French Aviation, 
May 15th. Trained Avord, Pau, and Plessis-Belleville. Breveted October 
16, 1917. Attached Spad Escadrille 85, December 19, 1917, Sergent. 
Killed in action, July 19, 1918, near Dormans. Croix de Guerre, with palm. 
Buried in France. 




STUART CARKENER, 2D 

Born June 24, 1897, in Boulder, Colorado. Son of George S. and Nell Evans. 
Carkener. Home, Kansas City, Missouri. Educated grade schools and 
Country Day School, Kansas City, and Princeton University, Class of 1919. 
Joined American Field Service, May 26, 191 7 ; attached Transport Section 
133 to November 17, 191 7. December returned to America. Enlisted in 
U. S. Field Artillery, 76th Regiment, as private. To France, April, 1918. 
Promoted to Corporal. Killed by shell, July 30, 1918, near Roncheres, 
northeast of Chateau-Thierry. Buried Villadale Farm, near Roncheres, 
Aisne. Body transferred to Belleau Cemetery, Aisne, and to rest ultimately 
beside his mother in Forest Hill Cemetery, Kansas City, Missouri. 



STUART CARKENER, 2D 

Stuart Carkener, 2D, said in his last letter to his 
family, "Whatever you do, don't worry about me, as I 
can assure you that every time I hear a shell coming my 
way I soon find some safe ditch." Just four days later, 
however, when it became necessary to deliver an impor- 
tant message from an advanced observation post, he did 
not hesitate to leave his "safe ditch," but struck out 
calmly across the cornfield where, midway, he was mort- 
ally wounded by an exploding shell. The 4th U. S. 
Infantry had been held up by German machine guns. 
Corporal Carkener and his two companions had located 
the nest by successful reconnoissance, and he and one 
companion decided to risk the journey rearward to carry 
the information. They left, wrote the sergeant who 
stayed in charge of the post, with terrible matter-of- 
factness, " thinking that one of them, possibly, could get 
through all right ! " But neither one arrived ! 

At Princeton Stuart played on his freshman and var- 
sity soccer teams, and has been described by a classmate 
who retains a vivid impression of him, as "attractive, 
popular, and congenial, with a friendly word for every- 
one." 

In May, 191 7, he sailed for France in the American 
Field Service where he served for six months in the cam- 
ion branch, driving in one of the trains of trucks that de- 
livered shells from the railroads to the batteries before 
and during the great battle of the Chemin des Dames. 
His letters were clear and vivid, characterized above all 
by their refreshing honesty and freedom from heroics. 
He was always careful to verify everything about which 
he wrote, and in his desire to prevent his family from 
worrying he went almost to an extreme in minimizing 
the danger. 

In December, 19 17, he returned to the United States 
and made plans to enter service in our Army. It was 
his determination to return to France immediately, and 

123 



STUART CARKENER, 2d 



he declined to make any effort to enter officers' training 
camps in this country, for which, by his education and 
experience, he was well fitted. After looking the situa- 
tion over he enlisted in the 76th Field Artillery, being 
advised that this regiment was to be among the next to 
sail. In April, 191 8, he embarked for France a second 
time. After three weeks of training, his regiment, on 
the night of July 14th, found itself in a little village not 
far from Chateau-Thierry with the German barrage 
roaring and crackling about their heads. The casualties 
were great that night owing to the lack of shelter, and 
Corporal Carkener, for he had received his promotion 
during the period of training, was obliged to work "as 
stretcher bearer, trench and grave digger" for twenty 
hours, during eight of which he wore a gas mask. Then 
came the Allied advances, of which he wrote, "They 
mean all sorts of work for us, but as long as they are in 
the right direction you can bet we don't mind the extra 
hardship," and at that point we must piece on the story 
of that heroic sacrifice in the cornfield. 

Of the many tributes that have been paid to Carkener, 
he himself would have probably valued most that which 
came from his sergeant, a man whom he never would 
have met but for the accident of war, and who wrote to 
Stuart's father, "He was a sort of a quiet lad, a very 
entertaining talker, and he was forever helping some one 
to figure out problems. Every one in the outfit missed 
him just because he was a 'regular fellow.' Your son 
did his bit, Mr. Carkener, and he died with his boots on 
just like every soldier wants to die." 

No true soldier could wish a higher fame than the 
words above his grave. 

" Glorieusement mort au champ d 'honneur,face a I 'ennemi, lejojuillet iqtS, 
Stuart Carkener II, soldat americain." 



124 



MALCOLM TROOP ROBERTSON 

"When I needed someone with plenty of grit and bull- 
dog courage, I always picked Malcolm, and he never 
failed me." Malcolm Troop Robertson earned this 
voluntary commendation from his platoon commander 
after ten months of devoted service as a first class private 
in the "Stokes Mortar" platoon, of the Headquarters 
Company, 1 65th Infantry. Sergeant Fitzsimmons writes 
that, when the regiment first "went in," near Lune- 
ville, " Private Robertson, on account of his knowledge 
of the language, volunteered to stand guard 'with the 
French sentry' every night during the regiment's stay 
in the trenches, which was four times his required duty, 
'to warn more understandingly and quickly of gas- 
alarms or attack.' " In Champagne, two weeks before 
his death, with two "non-coms," Malcolm stood by his 
gun, "when ordered to seek shelter, during a fierce 
bombardment, and by sending over a perfect barrage of 
Stokes Mortar shells drove the enemy from our wire. 
It was for such acts that "his coolness under fire became 
a byword in the company, and behind his back the boys 
remarked on his nerve." "The most courageous man 
in my platoon .... at times I took advantage of it 
and used him in many a trying situation," Lieutenant 
McNamara wrote, "and at the Ourcq when I gave him a 
chance to volunteer, he was right there with his plea of 

'take me with you, Lieutenant '^^ and he gave 

his fine young life to his country." 

On that 30th of July, 1918, the 165th, advancing 
rapidly and out of touch with its artillery supports, was 
"hung-up" by a strong machine gun nest in the Meurcy 
farmhouse at the Ourcq River. This had to be silenced 
before the regiment could move on. A volunteer squad 
of six men, including Robertson went forward into the 
open with two mortars to blast away the obstruction. 
With no time to "dig in," the order to open fire found 
them in an exposed position. Immediately they were 

125 



MALCOLM TROOP ROBERTSON 



answered by a concentrated shelling from a battery be- 
hind the farm. The officer had gone ahead to make ob- 
servations, the sergeant had retired, wounded, and when 
there was a suggestion of wavering under the wilting 
bombardment it was "Robbie" who took charge, as his 
citation reads, holding the men by the strength and in- 
spiration of his example. They "stuck" and their fire 
broke up a developing counter-attack, but when the 
shelling ceased Malcolm was found dead beside his gun, 
killed by a shell. 

At Princeton, too, he had been "on the job," earning 
his class numerals and a degree although he left to join 
the Field Service before his graduation. In those dark 
hours following the battles of the Yser, he served with 
Section One in the north — driving among the dunes of 
Coxyde, under the long-range shells in Dunkirk, and be- 
neath avion bombs at Nieuport. In the autumn he re- 
turned to complete his studies, and enlisted in the 7th 
Regiment of New York when America entered the war. 
He transferred, as a private, to the 165th Infantry and 
went again to France with the 42d Division in October, 
1917. 

His constant eagerness to do the hardest things in- 
cluded no thought of recognition, although he was cited 
by French and Americans. His almost reckless courage 
and cool disregard of danger expressed his spirit of 
patriotism and gave evidence of his desire to give himself 
completely to the cause for which he was at the last to 
die. His lieutenant wrote, "I buried Malcolm that 
evening, and while the Boche were shelling I knelt in 

prayer at his grave " And his next words might 

almost be Malcolm's own last brave message to his 
people, for Lieutenant McNamara said, "What a glori- 
ous death ! To die for one's country, for right and 
justice." 



126 




MALCOLM TROOP ROBERTSON 
Born August 2, 1894, in Brooklyn, New York. Son of Doctor Victor A. and 
Maria Cochran Robertson. Educated Prospect Heights and Polytechnic 
Preparatory Schools, and Princeton University, Class of 1915. Joined 
American Field Service, April 28, 1915 ; attached Section One to July 18, 
1915. Returned to America. Enlisted 7th Regiment, N. Y. N. G., June 
27, 1917; voluntarily transferred to 165th Infantry for overseas service. 
Killed in action at the Ourcq River, July 30, 191 8, near Villeneuve-sur- 
Fere. Recommended for Croix de Guerre and D. S. C. Buried American 
Cemetery, Seringes-et-Nesles, Aisne. Body to be transferred to American 
Cemetery, Belleau Wood. 




WALTER BERNARD MILLER 

Born November 9, 1893, in New York City. Son of Bernard and Valeska 
Hager Miller. Educated New York schools. Enlisted U.S. Navy, 1911; 
attached U. S. S. Des Moines and U. S. S. Leonida. Honorably discharged, 
1914. May to August, 1916, International Mercantile Marine Lines, cadet 
officer, S. S . Siberia and Philadelphia. Joined American Field Service, De- 
cember 2, 1916 ; attached Vosges Detachment until June 2, 1917. Enlisted 
French Aviation, June 10, 191 7. Trained Avord, Juvisy, and le Plessis- 
Belleville. Breveted October 10, 1917. Transferred to U.S. Aviation. 
Commissioned Second Lieutenant, April i, 1918; attached First Observa- 
tion Group. Killed in aerial combat, August 3, 1918, north of Ch&teau- 
Thierry. Buried there. 



WALTER BERNARD MILLER 

In 191 6, before this country had declared war against 
Germany, Walter Bernard Miller, a lad of German par- 
entage but a citizen of the United States, volunteered to 
serve France and went to drive an ambulance on French 
soil. His action embodies the great triumph of the cause 
of democracy — the supremacy of an ideal over all racial 
prejudices. 

Son of Bernard Miller, Walter was born in New York 
City where he received both his elementary and high 
school training, being orphaned by the tragic death of 
his parents in the Slocum disaster. Upon the comple- 
tion of his schooling, he enlisted at eighteen in the United 
States Navy. During his four years of service he was 
present on the U. S. S. Des Moines at the scene of several 
West Indian and Central and South American revolu- 
tions and pseudo-revolutions. He was in Tampico, 
Mexico, during the critical times of 1914, and on the 
U. S. S. Leonida he went out with the Naval Survey. 
Something of a soldier of fortune, yet first, last, and al- 
ways, he was, in the best sense, a soldier, and a soldier of 
the highest standing. Lieutenant Hinricks, his division 
officer on the Des Moines during 1913 and 1914, testifies 
that, " . . . . Miller never neglected his duties or the 
less thrilling routine ship's work, and did everything he 
was called upon to do, cheerfully." 

He received his honorable discharge, and entered the 
International Mercantile Marine Lines in May of 1916. 
Miller was a cadet officer on the steamships Siberia and 
Philadelphia for three months, shortly thereafter joining 
the American Field Service. 

December 2, 191 6, he sailed on the Rochambeau for 
France and upon his arrival was, with six of his country- 
men, organized into the Vosges Detachment, which con- 
tinued in Alsace the work begun by Section Three. Here 
for six months he labored, driving his ambulance over 
some of the steepest and most dangerous mountain 

127 



WALTER BERNARD MILLER 



roads of the western front. Joseph R. Greenwood writes 
of this work : "While the Vosges Detachment made no 
records for 'number of kilometres run' still it played its 

part It kept alive in the minds of the Alsatians 

the knowledge that America was with them in spirit 
even before we entered the war 

When the term of his enlistment expired, America had 
entered the war and Miller sought more active service. 
He enlisted with the Lafayette Flying Corps and re- 
ceived his training with the French. When United 
States aviators arrived in France he transferred to the 
1st Observation Group as a Second Lieutenant. A com- 
rade writes of him in the history of the Lafayette Flying 
Corps : "Those of us who lived in the same barrack with 
Miller will never forget him — his gaiety, his optimism, 
his generosity, his fine careless courage. On dreary eve- 
nings it was Miller who cheered us with his in- 
exhaustible repertory of songs and stories On 

the front he earned the reputation of an indefatigable 
flyer, aggressive, determined, and brave as a lion." 

On August 3, 1 91 8, in the fighting between Soissons 
and Fismes, Lieutenant Miller, with eight companions 
met a squadron of thirty Fokkers, and was shot down. 
A fellow aviator says that he was "the oddest, drollest, 
and most likable of men. His life was a kaleidoscopic 
succession of adventures by land and sea ; surveying the 
coast of Central America, running shells through the 
submarine blockade to Archangel, driving an ambulance 
on the Western Front, piloting an aeroplane in some of 
the heaviest fighting of the war, and meeting death in an 
epic combat against thirty enemy machines." 

Walter Bernard Miller is mourned as an individual by 
those who knew and loved him, and by generations to 
come he will be honored as one who helped lay the corner- 
stone for the foundations of a real brotherhood of men. 



128 



CLAYTON CAREY ELLIS 

Long before Clayton Carey Ellis made his ultimate sac- 
rifice in the service of France he had earned, by the 
happy combining of likable personality and abilities well 
above the average, the esteem and affection of his French 
and American comrades in the war just as earlier he had 
of his schoolmates. "I should not know how to say 
which was the greater — the admiration or the love I 
felt for him" said the aumonier of the division in writing 
to Clayton's parents, and went on "cStait, sans exager- 
ation, Vun des meilleurs jeunes gens que dans ma carriere 
de pretre, il nia ete donne d'approcher, et comme le tout 
etait recouvert de la plus sincere modestie, faffirme, sans 
crainte, que le tres cher Clayton representait d mes yeux 
Videal du jeune homme." "His sincerity and gentleness 
were as much a part of him as his sense of duty," wrote 
Frederic Colie, a fellow driver in Clayton's section. A 
memorial notice published by the art school he had at- 
tended spoke of "his power for leadership," saying that 
" Clayton's influence within the school was strong, whole- 
some, and fine — all regarded him as a friend." At high 
school, too, he won exceptional popularity, being class 
president for four years. In addition he was a splendid 
athlete, and had a very fine tenor voice. He possessed 
also marked aptitude for painting. 

Clayton was studying art in Boston and doing settle- 
ment work in addition when America declared war. He 
seized his opportunity and sailed for France in May 
with a Dartmouth unit of the Field Service which went 
to the front as Section Twenty-Eight. Of him a bran- 
cardier priest, le pasteur Caldesaignes, said "None of 
those who had been in close contact with him could 
otherwise than become attached to him." 

He was quiet and practical, a conscientious, enthu- 
siastic worker, "volontaire pour toutes les missions peril- 
leuses" says his army citation for the Croix de Guerre. 
In describing his reactions Clayton himself found that 

129 



CLAYTON CAREY ELLIS 



"like everything I have ever done I have entered this 
work with no greater thrills than those experienced on 
the hay press or the football field — just a matter of 
business on hand to be done according to my best judg- 
ment." To his former schoolmates his letters were "con- 
stant, cheerful, and optimistic" and his work abroad 
was done "in the same buoyant spirit known and re- 
membered in studios and classrooms." With many in- 
terests and broad sympathies Clayton was very sensitive 
to the suffering of others. "Nothing disheartens me," 
he said, "as when I've done all in my power to give my 
man an easy trip, feeling his pains at every bump, suf- 
fering with him during long waits on the road, and then 
to see him die as he is taken from the car." He had 
hoped, upon enlisting in the ambulance service for the 
duration of the war, that he might secure a non-com- 
missioned officer's rank but he was not one of those first 
selected and he remarked philosophically "so I must 
play the good soldier until my turn comes — if it ever 
does." His sense of humor and good temper lifted him 
over many difficulties, much as he says "my old voiture 
has carried me safely through quite a bit. Never failed 
me in time of need — in fact we are two of a kind : built 
not for speed but for service." 

He did not fail or falter once in his service. On the 
night of August 6th, after midnight, he was carrying 
wounded through the shadowy, blasted streets of Reims 
when a shell struck close and a splinter pierced Clayton's 
head, killing him instantly. In the words of his school- 
mates, "he died as he had lived bravely doing his duty 
as he saw it, and in the cause of his fellowmen." "This 
is warfare" a comrade wrote "a man lives from minute 
to minute," and to the end Clayton Ellis lived his every 
minute well. 



130 




CLAYTON CAREY ELLIS 

Born July 13, 1895, in Somerville, Massachusetts. Son of Charles L. and 
Dora Smith Ellis. Educated Somerville schools and Massachusetts Normal 
Arts School, Class of 1919. Taught at Peabody Settlement House, Boston. 
Joined the American Field Service, May 5, 191 7 ; attached Section Twenty- 
eight. Enlisted in U. S. A. Ambulance Service, September 17, 1917. Kill- 
ed by shell in action at Reirtis, August 7, 1918. Buried Seringes- 
et-Nesles, Aisne. Body transferred to Longley Cemetery, Sidney, Maine. 




ROBERT HARRIS BARKER 

Born March 20, 1894, in Hanson, Massachusetts. Son of Albert F. and 
Lucy Reynolds Barker. Home, West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Edu- 
cated Brockton schools and Rhode Island State College, Class of 191 8. 
Joined American Field Service, May 19, 191 7 ; attached Transport Section 
184 to November 13, 191 7. Joined Mallet Reserve of U. S. Motor Trans- 
port Corps. Sergeant. Transferred, March, 1918, to i6th U. S. Infantry 
as private. Died August 10, 19 18, in American hospital near Paris, of 
wounds received in action, July 20-22 near Soissons. Cited, U. S. Army 
orders. Buried American Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. Body to be trane- 
ferred to Fern Hill Cemetery, Hanson, Massachusetts. 



ROBERT HARRIS BARKER 

Company I, i6th Infantry, First Division, pushed 
through the wheatfields in the outskirts of Soissons on 
the morning of July 20j 191 8, occupying the post of honor 
in the center of the coiinter attack. The company ob- 
jectives had almost been reached with only slight casual- 
ties, when suddenly the men found themselves on the 
parapet of an occupied German trench and at the same 
moment a terrible cross-fire broke out from hidden 
machine gun nests. The company had no orders to retire 
so they stayed. When they were extricated from the trap 
a few days later by the victorious advance, at roll call 
Company I numbered twenty-four men and no officers, 
and Private Robert Harris Barker was listed among the 
"missing in action." The story is incomplete. We can 
only guess at the deeds of heroism that were performed 
out there in the wheatfield, — the sacrifices that were 
made, — the splendid courage and devotion that enabled 
the shattered platoons to hold on when it seemed they 
must retreat. But we are sure that Robert was in the 
midst of it fighting joyously, madly, when he was struck 
down. How long he lay badly wounded in the head and 
arms, without medical aid, we do not know. He was 
finally sent to an American base hospital outside of Paris, 
and there in the evening of August 10, his life went out 
with the fading day. He was buried in the cemetery of 
Suresnes just across the Seine from the Bois de Boulogne 
where he had loved to roam during the early days in 
Paris in the American Field Service. 

As a small boy Robert showed the spirit that was his. 
One winter, just before his thirteenth birthday, he was 
struck and severely wounded by a double-runner sled. 
Though suffering intensely and almost unconscious from 
loss of blood the little fellow's first thought was to exon- 
erate the boy who had run into him. At the age of fifteen 
he was enrolled in a Y. M. C. A. class and though on 
account of his size he was put among the older boys, he 

131 



ROBERT HARRIS BARKER 



won the all-around athletic contest. An injured knee 
prevented his taking a prominent part in school athletics, 
but nevertheless he was a leader in his class at the 
Brockton High School and at the time of his sailing for 
France was President of its Alumni Association. 

He entered the American Field Service on May 19, 
191 7, and was assigned to T. M. U. 184 in the camion 
branch. He was an excellent driver and a responsible 
soldier. In October he enlisted in the United States 
Army as a member of the Mallet Reserve but at the same 
time sent in his application for transfer to infantry, writ- 
ing to his father, "Someone in the family ought to do 
their bit and that bit should be a mighty big piece. The 
logical one to do it is Bob." He took his step coolly, with 
his eyes wide open to its worst possible consequences. 
In March his transfer arrived and he went immediately 
to the 1 6th Infantry, leaving behind a sergeant's war- 
rant. From that time on no word was received from him, 
for, according to a comrade who has given us the only 
account of Robert's death, "The regiment was kept so 
busy in the trenches that only two lots of mail were deliv- 
ered and none sent out." This same friend tells of Rob- 
ert's service, as Captain's Signal Man, of the zest with 
which he undertook dangerous assignments such as night 
patrols and scouting near the German lines, and of his 
cheerfulness and friendliness. He loved his fellows, par- 
ticularly the rough, tobacco-chewing, big-hearted "bud- 
dies" of whom he wrote sympathetically, looking past 
their external coarseness into the goodness of their hearts. 

As he said in his last letter, "The army creates 

a brotherly feeling among us all." It is fitting that these 
should be the last words from one who found in life so 
many brothers. 



132 



STANLEY HILL 

If we were to summarize In a word the qualities of Stan- 
ley Hill, we should say immediately, "cheerfulness." 
His was a most sunny, happy, generous nature, full of 
the joy of living and always responsive to the call of ad- 
venture. As a boy he was ready for any sort of game, 
and as he grew up that spirit grew with him. A class- 
mate of his at Dartmouth tells of his going over the ski- 
jump at the Winter Carnival in spite of the fact that he 
had never done any jumping before, simply because he 
was unwilling to admit that he could not do it. In the 
simplicity with which he faced the problems of existence 
he recognized only success or failure, and he acknowl- 
edged no acquaintance with the word "cannot." His 
outlook on life was so straightforward, his sympathy so 
ready, his cheerfulness so infectious that we who were 
privileged in knowing him will always remember him 
with a particular tenderness. 

On May 5, 191 7, he sailed from New York with his 
brother in the American Field Service, writing to his 
mother just before the ship left the pier, "We are going 
into one of the noblest services that exists and we do not 

want you to feel badly whatever may happen 

we want you to bear it bravely, as we know you will." 
Both he and his brother left Paris in Section 28 and were 
soon working in the midst of the heavy fighting in Cham- 
pagne, where, on June 26th, his friend and college class- 
mate, Paul Osborn, was killed while loading his car at an 
advanced post. Stanley wrote in a letter to his father 
telling of the tragedy, a sentence that has a striking in- 
terest in the light of his own unselfish death. "If any- 
thing happens to me, I pray God that I may be as noble, 
as courageous and as thoughtful of others as Paul was !" 

"Stan" loved the French; soon he spoke the lan- 
guage easily, delighting particularly in absorbing all 
sorts of slang expressions with which he would regale a 
group of admiring poilus. His smile and unwavering 

133 



STANLEY HILL 



good humor came to be known throughout the division 
where he was always warmly and affectionately made 
welcome. Miss Norma Derr, the author of "Made- 
moiselle Miss" describes him during the exhausting 
days of June, 191 8, as he drove up to the hospital at 
Epernay. "He was white with dust and haggard after 
days and nights of steady driving, but just as buoyant 
and confident as in the old days in Bouleuse when the 
section was 'calm.'" 

The German offensive of July 15, 19 18, found Section 
28 working in the Reims sector. Throughout that long 
memorable day they toiled, until at last the posts were 
temporarily cleared of wounded. As several of the men, 
worn out with fatigue and hunger, were snatching a hasty 
bite for the first time that day, a call came in for three 
more cars. Stanley was the first out on the road. Not 
far from the hospital on his return trip, a shell struck 
beside the car wounding him in the forehead. He was 
taken to the hospital at La Veuve and it was thought he 
would live. He regained consciousness and even wrote 
to his family in his cheery way, concerned only for the 
anxiety of his parents. In one of these two letters he 
wrote, "All goes well except that I worry as to how you 
are bearing up under the strain of not knowing just what 
happened to me." 

On August 1 2th meningitis suddenly set in, and Stan- 
ley dropped into unconsciousness, waking only on the 
morning of the 14th, to answer a question as to how he 
felt. "All right," he said, with a faint smile, undaunted 
and cheerful in the face of death as he had been through- 
out his life. He died at ten o'clock that night and his 
friends felt that a light had gone out. 



134 




STANLEY HILL 
Born December i8, 1896, in Somerville, Massachusetts. Son of Willard C. 
and Clara Laycock Hill. Home, Lexington, Massachusetts. Educated Lex- 
ington Schools and Dartmouth College, Class of 1918. Joined American 
Field Service, May 5, 191 7 ; attached Section Twenty-eight to October 2, 
1917. Enlisted U. S. Army Ambulance Service. Wounded by shell, July 
IS, 1918, in Reims. Died August 14, 1918, at La Veuve Hospital, near 
Chaions-sur-Marne. Croix de Guerre with palm, and Medaille Mihtaire. 
Buried Military Cemetery, La Veuve, Marne. 




ALEXANDER BERN BRUCE 



Born May 3, 1894, in Seattle, Washington. Son of David and Carrie 
Wainwright Bruce. Home, Lawrence, Massachusetts. Educated Phillips 
Academy, Andover, and Harvard University, Class of 1915. Teaching 
staff, Andover. Plattsburg, 1916. Joined American Field Service, April 28, 
1917; attached Transport Section 526 to August 28, 1917. Enlisted U. S. 
Aviation. First Lieutenant ; Paris Defense Squadron. Attached 94th 
Pursuit Squadron, July, 1918. Killed in combat, August 17, 1918, over 
Cruaux. Buried American Cemetery, Fismes, Marne. 



ALEXANDER BERN BRUCE 

One of Alexander Bern Bruce's fellow instructors at 
Andover has described him as "the most reticent, silent 
man I have ever known" ; and Major Fuess says in his 
book, "Phillips Academy, Andover, in the Great War," 
"In the early days of our war many men talked much 
about what they planned to do. 'Alec' Bruce said very 
little : but when the hour struck, he did more than talk, — 
he went. His career is an inspiration to all true Ameri- 
cans." Quiet, modest, unassuming, he possessed unusual 
strength of character, and was a brilliant scholar, gradu- 
ating cum laude from Andover in 191 1 and being elected 
to the Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard. His friends speak of 
his faithfulness and conscientiousness and of the implicit 
trust that he inspired among all who had dealings witli 
him. 

In the fall of 191 5 he went back to Andover as an 
instructor and when American participation in the war 
seemed imminent he took a leading part in the forma- 
tion of the Andover Unit of the American Field Service.. 
Together with the majority of the unit he volunteered for 
the camion branch and served with T. M. U. 526B for 
four months. At the conclusion of his term of enlist- 
ment he joined the American Air Service. There were no 
heroics about his resolution; as a companion said, "In 
his quiet, determined sort of way, he simply made up his 
mind and went ahead." He had a very real and deep- 
rooted patriotism that was not dissipated in flag-waving, 
but which on the contrary took him into the midst of 
fighting so quietly and so surely that his decision seemed 
inevitable, as indeed it was. His first assignment after 
being commissioned as a flyer was to the patrol that pro- 
tected the Paris district against air-raids. In spite of the 
fact that Paris was bombed almost every day and his 
work in consequence valuable and dangerous, he felt his 
service inadequate and made frequent requests for trans-^ 
fer to front-line duty. Finally to his great satisfaction. 

135 



ALEXANDER BERN BRUCE 



and relief he was sent out to the famous 94th Aero Pur- 
suit Squadron, which even at this early date had a large 
number of Hun planes to its credit. His death has been 
described by Major Fuess. "On August 17, 191 8, while 
he was engaged in combat over Cruaux with several 
German planes, his machine brushed wings with that of 
another pilot, and he fell nearly two miles. Although his 
body was not mangled, his neck was broken and he was 
evidently killed instantly." 

"Alec's " letters to his mother, to whom he wrote almost 
daily with characteristic thoughtfulness, were cheerfully, 
almost playfully, optimistic, showing a side of his per- 
sonality that did not often appear in conversation. They 
were exceptionally well-written, but with his usual mod- 
esty he refused to give his consent to their publication 
in spite of the constant demands of relatives. The beau- 
tiful quality of his spirit is illustrated by a friend. "He 
wrote letters frequently to small children and they were 
not the least of the fine things he did well." To be like 
"Alec" Bruce was the goal of many a youngster. What 
his comrades thought of him is shown by one who 
wrote, "Everybody who knew him recognized him as one 
of the cleanest, most straightforward chaps in the 
crowd." Another friend who had known him well at 
home said, "In the years he had lived, few as they were, 
he made a record of brilliant achievements in the class- 
room and on the battlefield. Surely he has not lived 
in vain." 



136 



HENRY HOWARD HOUSTON, 2D 

One of the truest things which can be said of Henry 
Houston is that no matter where his duty lay he gave 
himself always with whole heartedness, self-effacement 
and loyalty. A member of Section Twelve from its be- 
ginning, he rendered faithful and courageous service on 
the Verdun front during the winter and spring of 1917, 
for which he was decorated with the Croix de Guerre by 
the 132nd Division of French Infantry on April 5th of 
that year. Early in May he was selected as one of the 
first group of fifteen men, mostly heads of sections, to be 
sent to the French Officers' Training School at Meaux. 
Upon completion of this course, at a time when too many 
volunteers were considering where they preferred to 
serve rather than where their services were needed, he 
placed himself unconditionally at the disposal of the 
Field Service Headquarters to be assigned as they saw 
fit, and as head of a camion section, T. M. U. 133, he 
proved himself a wise and devoted officer. 

In August, 191 7, he resigned his command under the 
Field Service and returned to America to accept a com- 
mission as aide on the staff of General William G. Price, 
Jr., commanding the 53rd Artillery Brigade. It was 
with this brigade that he had served on the Mexican 
border, immediately after graduating from the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, during the summer and fall of 
191 6, in the First Pennsylvania Field Artillery (107th 
U. S. F. A.), and of which he had written while in the 
camion service: "I still have hankerings toward the ar- 
tillery, — first loves are strongest, you know." 

He took up the new task with a determination to use 
to the utmost his rare advantage of previous military 
service with the brigade and six months' experience with 
the armies at the front. How well he succeeded is evi- 
denced by the following quotation from a letter written 
by General Price : " Rejoining his old brigade, he brought 
with him a deep knowledge of conditions of service in 

137 



HENRY HOWARD HOUSTON, 2d 



France, which was of inestimable value to the brigade 
in its preparations for service there. To me personally 
he was of great comfort and assistance ; his services 
during the training period, lecturing on subjects which 
came under his observation prior to the United States^ 
entry into war, and during his aerial training at Fort Sill, 
Oklahoma, from which he graduated as a flying observer, 
were of great value." 

During the long, anxious months of training, both in 
America and France, the example of his never failing 
cheerfulness and devotion to duty helped many a fellow 
officer or enlisted man over the pitfalls and discourage- 
ments inevitable in the building up of a successful fight- 
ing unit, and thus affected in no small degree the morale 
of the entire brigade. The fact that his name was 
chosen for the American Legion Post at German town, 
Pennsylvania, the second largest post in the state, is a 
proof of the esteem in which his comrades held him. He 
was killed on August i8th, 1918, near Arcis le Ponsart, 
having volunteered to go to a position near the lines to 
give instructions regarding the proper liaison between the 
air forces and batteries. 

Of his death General Price writes : "As his command- 
ing officer I can not find words to express the sense of loss 
we all felt, the realization by all of his sterling worth, 
his value as an officer and his promised value as a citizen. 
Thoughtful, unselfish, kind and brave, he died as I be- 
lieve he would, could he have chosen, facing the enemy 
in battle, fearless and with a sublime confidence in the 
future life which his associates well knew he had. 

"Thus he died, a Christian gentleman, a soldier who 
loved humanity, his country, and his God." 



138 




HENRY HOWARD HOUSTON, 2D 

Born April 5, 1895, in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania. Son of Samuel F. and 
Edith Codies Houston. Educated Chestnut Hill Academy and University 
of Pennsylvania, Class of 1916. Battery "C," State Guard, Mexican Bor- 
der, 1916. Joined American Field Service, January 8, 191 7 ■ attached Sec- 
tion Twelve. French Officers' Automobile School, Meaux. Chef Adjoint, 
Transport Section 133 to July 30, 191 7. Croix de Guerre. Returned to 
America. Commissioned Second Lieutenant, Aide, Commanding General's 
Staff, 53d Artillery Brigade. Trained Fort Sill, Oklahoma, as flying ob- 
server. First Lieutenant, U. S. Field Artillery, 28th Division. Killed by 
shell, August 18, 1918, near Arcis-le-Ponsart, Marne. Buried Suresnes, 
Seine. 




HARRY WORTHINGTON CRAIG 

Born April 19, 1897, in Chicago, Illinois. Son of Norman and Katherine 
Austin Craig. Home, Cleveland, Ohio. Educated St. John's Military 
Academy, Delafield, Wisconsin ; Cleveland East High School ; and Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin, Class of 19 19. Joined American Field Service, January 
8, 1917; attached Section Twelve until July 9, 1917- Croix de Guerre. 
Returned to America ; enlisted in U. S. Aviation. Trained in France and 
Italy. Commissioned First Lieutenant; attached French Escadrille 129. 
Killed in combat, August 20, 1918. Croix de Guerre with palm. Buried 
French Cemetery, Pierrefonds, Oise. Body transferred to American Ceme- 
tery, Romagne-Sous-Montfaucon, Muese. 



HARRY WORTHINGTON CRAIG 

" Oh, it isn't in words that they show it — 
Words are too feeble to tell what they feel ; 
It's down in their hearts that they know it, 

It 's down in their souls that it 's real. 
So they stick to their work as they find it. 

And forget the caprices of Chance, 
For they know that the price of the big sacrifice. 
Is little enough — for France ! " o a r^ 

IV. A. U. 

When the appeal came for volunteer ambulanciers in 
France, Harry Worthington Craig, then a sophomore m 
the State University of Wisconsin, was among the first 
to offer his services. He sailed with his group early m 
January, 1917, and for the next six months he lost — and 
more truly found — himself , in the grim realities he 
encountered in that tattered, grimy, bleeding fringe of 
the war — the zone of the ambulanciers. All of his fresh 
vigour, and sense of outraged justice he poured into that 
work with S. S. U. 12, in the sector near Esnes and the 
Bois d'Avocourt, and later, in the Chalons sector. 
His complete indifference to personal danger he demon- 
strated time and again, and France acknowledged her 
appreciation of this unselfish and splendidly fearless ser- 
vice by decorating him early for bravery under fire. ^ 

Before his six months' enlistment had expired, America 
had entered the war, and upon completing his term as an 
ambulancier Craig returned to this country, only to go 
back to France, immediately, under our flag. He en- 
listed in aviation, completing his training, and receiving 
his commission as First Lieutenant only two months be- 
fore his death. . . , , 
Here, as in the ambulance service, he distinguished 
himself by his courage and loyalty, and was again 
honored by the French Army in being awarded the Croix 
de Guerre with palm. Even in this world strife, where 
the individual must, of necessity, be blotted out in the 
great scheme of things, his record stands high among 
those of individual achievement — primarily because ot 

139 



HARRY WORTHINGTON CRAIG 



the thoroughness and forgetfulness of self with which he 
shouldered his particular responsibilities. 

Lieutenant Craig never allowed the bitterness of war 
and its appalling grimness to overcast the natural (buoy- 
ancy of his nature. Perhaps one of his greatest con- 
tributions to the winning forces was this undaunted 
optimism and cheeriness of his. His pilot writes that he 
was loved by every member of his Esquadrille because 
he was always happy and smiling, kind and considerate 
to everyone. And a sunny spirit was more precious than 
bullets in those days. 

Lieutenant Craig was born April 19, 1897, and was 
killed in an encounter with a German plane, August 20, 
191 8. He was buried with all military honor among his 
brave companions, the French officers, in a small cem- 
etery in Pierrefonds. He attended St. John's Military 
Academy at Delafield, Wisconsin, graduated from East 
High School in Cleveland, Ohio, and was embarked on 
his college career at Madison, Wisconsin, when he re- 
sponded to the call of France. 

In the History of the American Field Service is this 
tribute to the men of S. S. U. 12, who made the final sac- 
rifice — a tribute by a fellow ambulancier, which is par- 
ticularly applicable to Harry Craig : 

"We render these men all due honor, and salute them 
as comrades who never faltered in their duty, and who 
were over-eager to accept service of any kind. They 
went to their deaths as men should, serving their country 
to the last moment." 



140 



CHARLES HENRY FISKE, 30 

Charles Henry Fiske, 3D, left Harvard at the end of his 
Freshman year to join the Field Service. He was im- 
mediately sent out to Section Three, then stationed near 
Pont-a-Mousson, on the Lorraine front. A month or so 
later, when this Section was offered the chance to go with 
the French troops to the Balkans, "Charley" volun- 
teered to go with it, and for the next eight months he 
drove his ambulance along the front in Albania and 
northern Greece. 

"Fiske was one of the youngest members of the Sec- 
tion," wrote an older man who was thrown much with 
him at the time, "but he made many friends among his 
fellow drivers. He was modest and unassuming and always 
showed the keenest and most dependable sense of duty." 

When he returned to France from the Balkans in June, 
the United States had joined the Allies, and Fiske sought 
a chance to enter his country's army. At that time, 
however, enlistment was impossible in France, so for 
several months Fiske served as a volunteer driver for 
Major Frederick Palmer then in charge of the war cor- 
respondents attached to the American army. "Fiske 
had the gift," wrote Major Palmer, "of making a good 
first impression and improving it upon acquaintance. 
He was as dear to me as if he were my own son." 

In September, 191 7, he returned to America and, find- 
ing himself too young to be accepted at any officers' 
training camp, re-entered Harvard where he became a 
member of the Harvard Regiment. But his eager heart 
was overseas and, as soon as he became of age, he en- 
listed at Camp Upton, graduating early in April as an 
officer candidate. 

From Camp Upton, Fiske was ordered to France with 
the 77th Division. He served with this division as a 
sergeant until July when he was promoted to the rank of 
Second Lieutenant and assigned to the iiith Infantry 
of the 28th Division. 

141 



CHARLES HENRY FISKE, 3d 



Six days after joining the 28th Division, while on duty 
near the village of Fismettes, he was struck in the shoul- 
der by the fragment of a shell. After an emergency 
operation had been performed in a field hospital he was 
sent back by a canal boat to Paris where he died, August 
24th, in Red Cross Hospital No. 3, while undergoing a 
second operation. The funeral was held in the hospital 
on August 27th and his body was interred in the Ameri- 
can Military Cemetery at Suresnes. 

A friend, who knew and loved Fiske and who returned 
to America with him in 191 7, wrote at the time of his 
death : " I think his first quality was his modesty. He 
never realized that everyone on shipboard watched him 
with admiration. Everyone I talked to asked me who 
that glorious boy was and what he had been doing. He, 
on the other hand, said to me more than once, ' It is foolish 
to think that anything you do or are is your own self. It 
is all the result of what some one else has done for you.' " 

Harvard University awarded him posthumously the 
degree of Bachelor of Arts. Two scholarships in his 
honor have also been established by his parents. One is 
to be given to a French student desirous of studying at 
Harvard and the other will be tenable at Trinity College, 
Cambridge, by an American nominated by the President 
and Fellows of Harvard University. 



142 




CHARLES HENRY FISKE, 3D 

Born December 3, 1896, in Boston, Massachusetts. Son of Charles Henry 
Fiske, Jr., and Mary Thorndike Fiske. Educated Noble and Greenough 
and Country Day School. Trinity College, Cambridge, England, and Har- 
vard University, Class of 1919. Plattsburg Camp, 1916. Joined American 
Field Service, August 13, 1916 ; attached Section Three in France and Bal- 
kans to June 30, 191 7. Volunteer chaufifeur with Major Palmer to Sep- 
tember, 1917. Returned to America, enlisted U. S. Infantry, Camp Upton, 
January, 1918, 77th Division. Sailed April, as Sergeant. Commissioned 
Second Lieutenant; attached iiith Infantry, 28th Division, July, 1918. 
Died at Red Cross Hospital No. 3, Paris, August 24, 1918, of wounds re- 
ceived in action near Fismes, Marne, August 1 2th. Buried American Ceme- 
tery, Suresnes, Seine. 




GREAYER CLOVER 

Born April 14, 1897, in Chicago, Illinois. Son of Samuel T. and Mabel Hitt 
Cloven Home, Richmond, Virginia, and Los Angeles, California. Educated 
Los Angeles and Pasadena schools, California ; one year Leland Stanford 
University ; Yale University, Class of 1919. Joined American Field Service, 
May 19, 1917 ; attached Transport Section 133 to November 19, 1917. En- 
listed U. S. Aviation. Second Lieutenant. Killed in aeroplane accident 
August 30, 1918, training at Issoudun. Buried Issoudun, Indre. 



GREAYER CLOVER 

Of all the qualities of character that distinguished 
Greayer Clover, perhaps the one that most fills the 
memory of his friends is his greatness of heart. He was 
as utterly incapable of thinking a mean or selfish thought 
as he was of "funking" in time of danger, — and courage, 
both moral and physical, was at the very foundation of 
his nature. His letters and his more formal sketches 
breathe loyalty — loyalty to his ideals, his country and 
his friends. From his camion section he wrote, "There 
are forty of us in the section and each one has thirty-nine 
friends," and we know that he would have given his life 
for any of them because such was his plain understanding 
of friendship. "He had the kindest, tenderest and most 
generous heart that ever beat!" is the heart-broken cry 
of one of his closest friends. He loved children and 
they were quick to find in him a spirit as pure and fresh 
as their own. Of his generosity — thoughtful, sacri- 
ficial generosity that took him often far out of his way 
to serve others — we have countless evidences. He 
"gave his own blankets and all of his sweaters and muf- 
flers" to a family of Belgian refugees whom he discovered 
almost destitute in the winter of 191 7-1 8, and he diverted 
every cent of his pay that he could spare, to their support. 
" Many of us think of deeds such as that," a friend wrote, 
"but 'Grub 'was one of the few who continually 6^ic^ them." 
Greayer entered Yale in the fall of 19 16 after a year at 
Leland Stanford Jr. University. As a schoolboy he had 
won the California interscholastic tennis cup and his 
athletic achievements continued at college. On April 17, 
191 7, he wrote to his father arguing for permission to join 
the American Field Service, closing with the cry, "And 
Oh! I want to make it France!" On May 19th, he 
sailed and in his father's words, "Never went a Crusader 
to the Holy Land with more zeal to serve." He served 
in the Camion Branch of the American Field Service 
until its absorption by the United States Army and then 

143 



GREATER CLOVER 



enlisted in aviation. On August 30, 191 8, while flying 
across country over Romorantin, his plane skidded and 
crashed to the ground, killing him instantly. 

"If so good a flyer as Greayer had to fall," Lieuten- 
ant J. R. Crowe, his "bunkie," killed two weeks later in 
the same way, wrote, "I know that it is all chance any- 
way." 

His writings, which include a published volume of 
anecdotes under the title "A Stop At Suzanne's," betray 
a great deal of real literary ability, but more particularly 
they reveal the charm of his personality and the sincerity 
and fearlessness of his character. They indicate wide 
and intelligent reading, an intense love of music and a 
deep-seated admiration for France and the civilization 
that she represents, together with a quick and sympa- 
thetic appreciation of the humorous and the pathetic. 

In the charming little sketch that gives the title to the 
book, Greayer tells of making his stop at "Suzanne's," 
— that romantic inn where new-fledged aviators were 
welcomed in the brotherhood of the air. There he 
signed his name in the big book, below the names of 
Guynemer and Fonck and Bishop, with a boyish exalted 
thrill at the thought that those to come after might one 
day pause over his signature and remember him. That 
day has come and we cease turning the pages to bow 
silently over his name, — not because of the greatness of 
his achievements, but because of the beauty of his life. 
He did not have the good fortune to win his spurs in 
battle, but he leaves a record as imperishable as time 
itself, — that we may not forget. 



144 



WILLIAM ARMSTRONG ELLIOTT 

Not content with being merely useful as a civilian en- 
gineer in one of the largest flying fields in France, Wil- 
liam Armstrong Elliott of T. M. U. 133 felt the urge for 
combat work so keenly that he submitted to an operation 
to make him physically fit for actual flying. Im- 
mediately following the operation, typhoid fever set m 
and Elliott died in the Naval Hospital at Beaucaillon^ 
France, September 4, 1918. 

In appreciation of his fine sense of duty, the navy 
buried Elliott with full honors. "His funeral was at-^ 
tended by the officers and men of my command," wrote 
Commander F. T. Evans to Elliott's mother, "For al- 
though not a member of the military forces of the United 
States your son had indeed become a comrade in arms 
and has given his life in the service of the country he 
loved." 

Elliott was bofn January 22, 1896, in Moab, Utah. 
He moved with his parents to Oxnard in California, in 
1899. There he lived until 19 12, when he entered the 
University of California. In the spring of 191 7 he joined 
one of the university ambulance units leaving for volun- 
teer service in France. 

At the end of his enlistment with the American Field 
Service in November, 191 7, Elliott became inspector in 
the construction department of the air service at Paris, 
and shortly after was sent to Romorantin to assist in the. 
building of an industrial center for the aviation branch 
of the army. In June, 19 18, with the pressure of the 
German offensive steadily growing, he obtained per- 
mission from his commanding officer to go to the French 
Artillery School where he was anxious to get the training 
which would send him again to the front. Major Bates^ 
in recommending him to the school wrote : "He desires 
to obtain permission to enter your school to receive train- 
ing for the artillery branch of your service with the hope 
that he can obtain a commission in the French Army. 

145 



WILLIAM ARMSTRONG ELLIOTT 



You will find this man an exemplary, clean cut, honor- 
able gentleman, in whom you can place every confidence." 

While at Fontainebleau he received a call from the 
naval aviation service. At Pauillac, where he was as- 
signed, Elliott soon found himself again in construction 
work in the rear. His urge to get into more active ser- 
vice steadily growing, Elliott consulted the medical au- 
thorities there. He learned that an operation was nec- 
essary before any army or navy would accept him, par- 
ticularly for artillery. He made arrangements at once 
to enter the hospital, from which he never returned. 

On learning of his death Major Bates wrote to El- 
liott's mother, "Our association together was one of the 
brightest periods of my long service, and I want to say to 
you in all candor, your son was one of the most honorable 
of men, and it was a real pleasure to be associated with 
him in our work, which was the most important in the 
air service in all France. Please accept my sincerest 
sympathy in your great bereavement. I mourn with 
you in your loss of your dear son and my friend and com- 
rade." 



146 




WILLIAM ARMSTRONG ELLIOTT 

Born January 2 2, 1896, in Moab, Utah. Son of Judge C.J. and Mildred 
J. Elliott. Home, Oxnard, California. Educated Oxnard schools and Uni- 
versity of California, Class of 191 8. Alternate years at college and working 
with state and county highway commissions as engineer. Joined American 
Field Service, May 19, 191 7 ; attached Transport Section 133 to November 
17, 1917. Civilian engineer and inspector, Construction Department, 
U. S. Air Service, Romorantin. Recommended French Artillery School but 
remained at Pauillac with U. S. Naval Aviation. Died September 4, 1918, 
of typhoid fever, U. S. Naval Hospital Beaucaillon. Buried Naval Cem- 
etery Pauillac, Gironde. 




WALTER LAIDLAW SAMBROOK 

Born December lo, 1893, in Watervliet, New York. Son of George T. and 
Emma Disney Sambrook. Educated Watervliet schools and Syracuse Uni- 
versity, two and one-half years, Class of 1917. Florist business, Troy, New 
York. Joined American Field Service, August 12, 1917; attached Trans- 
port Section 397 to November 12, 1917. Enlisted U.S. Quartermaster 
Corps; attached 302d Motor Transport Company. Stafif-car driver for 
General Wood. Died September 5, 1918, in Paris, of pneumonia. Buried 
Suresnes, Seine. 



WALTER LAIDLAW SAMBROOK 

Among Walter Laidlaw Sambrook's cherished posses- 
sions was the following letter signed by Major General 
Leonard Wood : 

" Private Walter Sambrook has been on duty as chauf- 
feur of my car during my tour of observation with the 
British, French, and American forces. I found him al- 
ways thoroughly reliable and extremely intelligent and 
efficient. We have had no trouble with the car and his 
services have been in every way most satisfactory." 

This voluntary appreciation from a busy and dis- 
tinguished officer is indeed something of which any 
soldier might be justly proud. It shows the earnestness 
and effort Sambrook put into the execution of the ordi- 
nary tasks. It was on this tour that General Wood was 
wounded. A shell exploded killing several Frenchmen 
and wounding two officers. Miraculously, almost, Walter 
escaped and turned his car into an ambulance to rush 
the wounded to a hospital. His action at the time was 
in part responsible for the tribute given above. It is 
spirit that counts in determining character, rather than 
the kind of service to which it is applied ; and it is often 
harder to do the easy job well than the hard one. But 
Walter did all things alike with the same high resolve 
and his material reward was on its way at the time of his 
death in the shape of a promised commission. 

Walter was educated at the public schools of \Vater- 
vliet and later at Syracuse University where he studied in 
the foresty department. He became a member of the 
Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, and made many and 
loyal friends during his four years there. After gradua- 
tion he went into business with his father in Troy until 
the call to war came to him, and in August, 191 7, he 
sailed for France in the American Field Service. On 
August 24, he wrote that he had been sent to the camion 
camp at the front and rejoiced at being finally in the 
midst of the action and excitement. His period of ser- 

147 



WALTER LAIDLAW SAMBROOK 

vice as an ammunition truck driver was full of intense 
interest for him, and he gave himself to it with character- 
istic enthusiasm. When the American Field Service was 
taken over by the United States, he, like so many others, 
turned his face from the alluring prospect of a return 
home in the guise of a war-worn veteran to whom ave- 
nues of advancement would be open, and enlisted as a 
private in the American Army. He was transferred to 
the Q. M. Corps, and, after some months of truck-driving 
similar to his previous work, it was his faithful and con- 
scientious service in that capacity which caused him to 
be selected as General Wood's driver. 

While on duty in Paris he was suddenly taken sick with 
pneumonia and after a very short illness and in spite of 
tender and careful attention, he died on September 5, 
1 91 8, just as the bell of the old church near the hospital 
struck the last note of midnight. He was buried the fol- 
lowing day in the beautiful cemetery of Suresnes. Gen- 
eral Wood wrote to his family expressing his personal 
sorrow at the loss of so capable and trustworthy a soldier 
and informing them that had he lived he would have been 
promoted to a lieutenancy within a short time. His 
commanding officer. Lieutenant John B. Atkinson, wrote 
of him feelingly that "his work was model and his life 

truly exemplary In his death we, his comrades, 

lose a good soldier, a conscientious worker, and a lad who 
was every inch a man." 



148 



WARREN THOMPSON KENT 

In the aftermath of sordid materialism, which so fate- 
fully followed the war, it is potent tonic to our depleted 
souls to recall a patriotic fervor and consecration to duty, 
such as Lieutenant Warren Kent's. It stabs our con- 
sciences awake and makes us grateful that we have such 
rare reminders, "lest we break faith with those who lie 
in Flanders Field." 

The high strain of this patriotism is best expressed in 
the following letter written to his mother a few weeks 
before he was killed. It is characteristic of all his thought : 

"The day of reckoning is coming, and the wind sowed 
must fructify into the harvest of the whirlwind : God 
grant I may have some share in this retribution. My 
name is on the list to replace someone who is in a squad- 
ron now at the front. It should not be long before I fi- 
nally reach there. I hope nothing may arise to cause any 
change, but I will nevermore think I am there until I am 
actually over the lines with machine gun loaded for the 
defense of everything worth living for. If it is worth liv- 
ing for, so is it also worth dying for, if necessary. As I 
wrote before. Mother dear, pray not that I be spared, for 
while I wish to live and return to you, it is selfish to wish 
preference for what is dear to us, when so many can not 
return. Pray only that I may do my duty, and well, and 
that I may do enough before lost, if so required, that my 
living may at least be an advantage. If this can be I will 
die with complete satisfaction. Be perfectly willing to 
lose me. The price is so cheap for the good to be at- 
tained." 

Lieutenant Kent came naturally by this high sense of 
duty as his ancestors shared that sturdy patriotism which 
laid the foundation of our republic. Coupled with an in- 
tense devoutness, this urge to defend to the very last 
breath those principles he cherished was not to be re- 
sisted. Before our country entered the war. Lieutenant 
Kent was convinced it was our duty to champion the 

149 



WARREN THOMPSON KENT 



righteous cause of the Allies by active assistance in their 
struggle, and he and his cousin, Kent Keay, appealed to 
Colonel Roosevelt to be allowed to join the expedition 
he was planning at that time for service in France. 

He sailed overseas with a unit from his university, 
Cornell, on April 14, 191 7. Immediately after his ar- 
rival he was asked to drive a munitions truck. He ac- 
cepted willingly, welcoming the most active service pos- 
sible. He became an ardent admirer of the French people 
and was keenly touched by their suffering. He writes of 
it to his mother. "To walk down the streets and see the 
splendid women in mourning — you can hardly pass one 
who is not, — when you see the youths and men bearing 
scars of the conflict, you cannot help but feel that we 
have been dilatory. It would rend your heart to see the 
number of women in mourning. They are mourning for 
men who have served you as well as the one who mourns." 

Subsequently, having passed through a French school 
to qualify as an officer in the automobile service, he de- 
clined a commission offered him in the Quartermaster's 
Department and enlisted in aviation instead, completing 
the course and receiving his commission early in 191 8. 

Though an exceptionally fine flyer, on September 7, 
1 91 8, he was taken in a disadvantageous position and 
shot down by one of von Richtoffen's circus while flying 
near Thiaucourt with the Forty-ninth Squadron of the 
Second Pursuit Group. 

Death held no terrors for him and he fully justified his 
own words, "If you have to run the chance of death at 
all, you had better run the full length and sell your life 
most dearly." 



150 




WARREN THOMPSON KENT 
Born May lo, 1894, in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania. Son of Henry T. and 
LouL Leonard Kent. Educated William Penn Charter School Phdade- 
phia, and Cornell University, Class of iqU- .J^^"^^,^'"^""^"/ ninher 
Jice April 14, 1917 ; attached Transport Sections 526 and 251 ^ October 
I4 1917. French Automobile Officers' Training School. Commandant Ad 
jLl Declined commission Motor Transport Corps ; enlisted U.S- Avia- 
tion Trained 2d Aviation Instruction Centre, France. Commissioned First 
Lieutenant, February, rgiS; attached 49th Squadron, 2d P-^^ G-^ 
Shot down and killed, September 7, 1918, near Thiaucourt. Buried Pannes, 
Meurthe-et-Moselle, by Germans. Body transferred to American Ceme- 
tery, Thiaucourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle. 




HORACE BAKER FORMAN, 3D 

Born March 4, 1894, in Baltimore, Maryland. Son of Horace B. Forman, 
Jr., and Lucy Chandler Forman. Home, Haverford, Pennsylvania. Edu- 
cated Haverford School and College, and Cornell University. Class of 191 7. 
Joined American Field Service, April 14, 1917; attached Transport Sec- 
tion 526 to October 15, 1917. Enlisted U.S. Aviation Service, October 
19th, three months in aviation camps. February, 1918, training Foggia, 
Italy. Second Lieutenant, May 18, 1918. Returned to France for chasse 
training. Killed in accident, September 14, 1918, at Issoudun. Buried Amer- 
ican Military Cemetery near Issoudun, Indre. 



HORACE BAKER FORMAN, 3D 

"Like so many of the heroic youth of America, he saw 
the right long before his country came to see it, and went 
forth to make the good fight, not counting the cost — 
and of that you can forever be proud." 

There is something quietly suggestive of the modern 
crusader in this tribute paid to Horace Baker Forman^ 
3d, who died "on the Field of Honor, for France." A 
very modern, American crusader, who shrank from any 
manifestations of glory, and asked only the satisfaction; 
of wearing the olive drab uniform, and being permitted 
an active share in the "job to be done 'over there.'" 

Horace was a quiet, college-absorbed Sophomore at 
Cornell when the Great War broke out. It was n't until 
two years later that he realized that this war concerned 
him. Fully alive, then, to its significance, he obtained^ 
after some delay, the consent of his family to sail for 
France with the first Cornell unit as a volunteer in the 
American Field Service. This was the well-known first 
group of armed Americans, carrying the American flag, 
to march through the streets of Paris after the United 
States had declared war on Germany. Their stirring ova- 
tion humbled while it inspired Horace. "Though we are 
only forty, and not worth our food," he wrote, "we are 

treated by everyone like kings ! The only thing 

lacking is 500,000 or more men in olive drab under the 
same flag." 

Then passed six weary months of camion driving, but 
Horace never complained, because he was helping the 
French, and the French poilus were to him "the most 
wonderful people in the world." France itself he loved as 
"my second country." The beauty, and the pathos, and 
the courage of this country were ever-new miracles to 
him. 

Upon completing his engagement in the Field Service, 
when his family wished him to come home, he wrote that 
he could not return to college : " You must try 

151 



HORACE BAKER FORMAN, 3d 



to remember that really I am only a little bit of a thing 

in a big mass I must get into line in some regular 

service and stay to the finish." 

Young Forman's enlistment with the camion service 
expired October 14, 1917. Within the week he had en- 
listed in the United States Air Service. For three trying 
months, he was detained in an aviation camp, waiting to 
go into training. At this time he gave thanks for having 
been taught to play chess when he was young. "You 
have lots to thank other people for if you take time to 
think — and you have lots of time over here ! When you 

stand out in the dark with a gun and with 

nothing to do but keep awake , you can do a lot 

of thinking !" 

Inaction ended the first part of February, and by the 
15th, he was settled at a training camp in Foggia, Italy, 
really flying at last. He showed from the first that he was 
a born flyer. In three months he had completed the train- 
ing and received his commission as Second Lieutenant, 
on May 18, 1918. 

Lieutenant Forman was sent back to France for ad- 
vanced work. Though skilled in bombing, he chose the 
work of Chasse pilot, as more sportsmanlike. There were 
inexplicable delays and as he waited orders, on Septem- 
ber 14th, he was killed in a sad and strange aeroplane 
^accident, when in descending from his plane, "the pro- 
peller fractured his skull, causing immediate death." 

But the Crusader's spirit cannot die. His life was For- 
man's gift to his country and to France ; his spirit of un- 
selfish service was his gift to humanity — his memory 
will live enshrined in the hearts of men. 



152 



HAROLD HOLDEN SAYRE 

Lieutenant Harold H. Sayre possessed in no small de- 
gree the finest qualities of young American manhood. 
Clean-cut and manly are perhaps the adjectives which 
best describe his personality, and underneath an at- 
tractive exterior was a sturdy soul upheld by the highest 
of principles. As one of his intimate friends has said : 
"He had principles and stuck to them regardless of all 
and I loved him for his straightforward ways." 

A student at Leland Stanford, Jr., University, he en- 
listed toward the end of his sophomore year, in the Ameri- 
can Field Service, and with the second Stanford Unit 
landed at Bordeaux on June 28, 191 7. From July to 
October he was with Section Ten in the Balkans, and 
under the particularly trying conditions of the eastern 
front he received his initiation into active warfare. The 
summer of 191 7 was spent carrying wounded over the 
difficult passes and rough roads of the Albanian moun- 
tains and in September the Section took part in the suc- 
cessful Albanian offensive. 

Returning to Paris on November 18, 191 7, he resigned 
from the Field Service, then being taken over by the 
American Army, and on December 5th enlisted in avia- 
tion. He was trained in various schools in southern 
France, received his commission, and was attached to the 
nth Aero Bombing Squadron. It was while attending 
the bombing school at Clermont-Ferrand that he first 
met Lieutenant Shidler, later his pilot and friend, who 
has written of him : 

"It was not hard after arriving at this field to pick out 
the most efficient bombers. All records were accessible 
and Lieutenant Sayre's was easily among the best. His 
strong personal character, his clean mode of living, and 
the high code he set as a standard to live by, made him a 
prominent figure among the officers at that place, and his 
good sense of humor made companionship with him most 
agreeable. He was fond of outdoor exercise and I shall 

153 



HAROLD HOLDEN SAYRE 



never forget the long walks through the vineyards of 
southern France and the swimming in the warm rivers 
while he and I were together. While visiting the cities 
and resorts he found his pleasure rather in the ancient 
architecture and the beautiful drives than in the bright 
lights of the town. His constant desire to learn and his 
devotion to duty were such that he would often sit under 
the most adverse circumstances and finish a map of some 
particular objective, when it was a common habit to let 
such things slip by as easily as possible and let the re- 
sponsibility rest upon the one in command." 

As a member of the nth Aero Bombing Squad, Lieu- 
tenant Sayre took part in the St. Mihiel drive early in 
September, 191 8, and on the morning of September 14th 
was sent out with his pilot. Lieutenant Shidler, in com- 
pany with a formation of several planes, to bomb certain 
objectives near the city of Conflans. The mission ac- 
complished, they were attacked by a superior number of 
German planes and in the ensuing combat Lieutenant 
Sayre was killed, although he kept his guns going until 
life left his body. His pilot, who was severely wounded, 
was able to land the plane at Rezonville in the German 
lines, where he was taken prisoner. It was here that 
Lieutenant Sayre was first buried, but his body was later 
removed to the American cemetery at Thiaucourt. 

He met death as bravely and squarely as he had faced 
life, with no thought but for the cause at stake and no 
desire but to serve this cause with the best which he had, 
even to the final sacrifice. 



154 




HAROLD HOLDEN SAYRE 

Born February 7, 1895, in Hutchinson, Minnesota. Son of A. Judson and 
Harriet H. Sayre. Lived in Harvey, North Dakota ; Calgary, Alberta, 
Canada; and Hollywood, California. Educated Western Canada College, 
Calgary ; Harvard Military School, Los Angeles, California ; Hollywood 
High School, and Leland Stanford University, Class of 1919. Joined Ameri- 
can Field Service, June 9, 1917; attached Section Ten in the Balkans to 
November 22, 1917. Enlisted U. S. Aviation, December 5, 1917. Trained 
Clermont-Ferrand. Commissioned Second Lieutenant, June i, 1918; at- 
tached nth Aero Squadron, ist Day Bombing Group. Shot down and 
killed within German lines, September 14, 1918, at Rezonville, west of 
Metz. Buried Rezonville by Germans ; body transferred to American Cem- 
etery, Thiaucourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle, ultimately to be buried in Holly- 
wood, California. 




CHARLES PATRICK ANDERSON 

Born April 20, 1896, in Oak Park, Illinois. Son of Bishop Charles P. and 
Janet Glass Anderson. Educated Oxford School, Chicago ; Howe School, 
Indiana; University of Illinois, two years, and Dartmouth College, Class 
of 19 18. Joined American Field Service, May 5, 191 7 ; attached Transport 
Sections 133 and 526 to October 8, 191 7. Enlisted U. S. Aviation. Trained 
Clermont-Ferrand and commissioned First Lieutenant ; attached 96th 
Pursuit Squadron. Shot down and killed, September 16, 1918, within Ger- 
man lines, near Conflans. Buried Joudreville, Meurthe-et-Moselle, north of 
Conflans. Body transferred to St. Mihiel American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, 
Meurthe-et-Moselle. 



CHARLES PATRICK ANDERSON 

"But after all, the main question is not whether men live 
or die. It is whether they live or die for a good purpose." 
The words are Bishop Anderson's. His son, Charles Pat- 
rick Anderson, did die for the highest purpose a man may 
know, and so, too, he had lived. The father says that one 
can only guess what kind of a man he would have be- 
come, but we who see the record of his achievement know 
the answer to such questioning: "Pat" must have fol- 
lowed his fine ideals through all his days, must have 
chosen trails along the mountain peaks, must have made 
his career in continuation as unselfish, as clean, and as 
complete as he made the all too brief years he lived. 

September i6, 1918, four bombing Breguets of the 
96th Squadron crossed the lines in the late afternoon. 
Lieutenant Anderson piloting the foremost plane with 
Lieutenant Hugh Thompson as his observer. In his offi- 
cial report. Lieutenant Codman, shot down in the raid, 
says, as if it were an insignificant commonplace to fly 
four-strong against twenty-four, "On approaching Con- 
flans, twenty-four enemy aircraft were sighted making 

for us They engaged us after we had reached our 

objective and dropped our bombs." With no thought of 
turning from their course until their goal was reached, 
"'Pat' remained perfectly calm throughout and kept on 
flying his plane as if nothing were happening." Codman 
"saw four German planes, two on each side, dive at 

Hugh's plane " "Pat," another survivor said, 

"instead of starting the machine downward" to escape, 
"bravely faced the machine-gun fire of the Boche, thus 

protecting the other planes back of him such a 

wonderfully brave deed " What less was possible 

for one who wrote, "War is war, and all any of us can do 
is to trust in God and go to it." 

"Pat" was an out of doors boy. City life, society, 
theatres, parties were of mere passing interest, "worth 
while but unsatisfying." Many things interested, but it 

155 



CHARLES PATRICK ANDERSON 



was the "great outdoors" that absorbed him. A reticent 
boy, he became exuberant when he escaped to the winds 
and spaces, away from streets and houses. He loved and 
was loved by animals. He hunted and fished and rode. 
Never one for shallow half-friendships, his friends were 
many — loyal and worth while. Yet always his boon 
companion was his father. Keenest enjoyment he had on 
mountain top or in the depths of forests, in the soli- 
tudes. What wonder then that he was supremely happy 
in the air ! "He mastered the air," "he played with the 

air," " he loved flying," say comrades. There 

"Pat" was at home. In his own words, "God is in the 
air as well as on the ground." 

Rejected in America for aviation, he joined the Field 
Service, giving himself whole-heartedly to his work of 
truck-driving. But his dreams were of the air, and, in 
October, 191 7, he became a flier. He was pilot of the first 
American bombing team to cross the lines, and at the 
time of their death, "Pat" and his observer were the 
only untouched flying members of the original Squadron, 
all the others having been wounded, captured, or killed. 

Constantly, "Pat" assured the family of his abounding 
health and peace of mind. "Your worry ings would turn 
to envy if only you could see the delightful time I am 
having and still getting credit for being a soldier." But 
he was honestly humble in his service, "Take off your 
hat, father," he said, "to the men in the trenches." 

" In the presence of Death one thinks more about char- 
acter than about accomplishment," says "Pat's" father, 
and later, "he never caused his sisters to blush or his 
parents to sigh." What finer success of character could 
be a man's than that ? 



156 



BENJAMIN HOWELL BURTON, Junior 

When two-score students in the University of California 
offered their services to France, one of the most enthu- 
siastic supporters of the abstract idea, as well as a leader 
in the actual organizing of the college unit for the Ameri- 
can Field Service, was Benjamin Howell Burton, Junior. 

It is difficult for anyone not a native of the Pacific 
states to appreciate just how distant from America the 
war seemed to them in its early days. It required time 
and much urging from within to stir their sympathies 
and to awaken a realization of their inherent obligation 
in the cause of France. It is remarkable then to find 
among western youths a strong spirit which found ex- 
pression in such sacrifice as that of "Ben" Burton's. 

Not yet of age when war came and in his third year of 
college, he laid aside his books, and joined eagerly in ar- 
ranging for the enlistment of his group in the Field Ser- 
vice. As eagerly, when they arrived in France, he en- 
tered into that work which promised most immediate 
action, becoming a driver in Camion Section 133 of the 
Mallet Reserve. With Section Erhardt, of Groupement 
P6risee, he began his training at Chavigny Farm, the 
camion center, north of Soissons. Later the Section made 
its home at Jouaignes, south of the Vesle. Here, as 
throughout his military experiences, "Ben" did his part 
and strengthened that estimate of his character which 
appears in the words of a California judge who speaks of 
his "reputation for honesty, integrity, industry, and so- 
briety high principles and ideals." "A good 

specimen of young manhood," Oscar Robinson, Presi- 
dent of the Board of Trustees of Colusa, had called him 
when he volunteered. And to the end he set an example 
for young American manhood. 

Young Burton was given the French War Cross in 
November, 191 7, for conspicuous bravery "en contrih- 
uant d, depanner deux camions sous un violent bombarde- 
ment qui fit deux victimes d ses cotes." His own letters 

157 



BENJAMIN HOWELL BURTON, Junior 

made slight mention of the affair, but a fellow camion- 
neur described it laconically in a letter : "The other night 
they sent us up one deuce of a steep hill about half a 
mile from the first trenches and that is close for our big 
trucks. The roads were slippery and full of shell-holes, 
which made driving fierce. About nine cars got stuck in 
the ditch and were all pulled out except one — 'Ben' 
Burton's and 'Herb' Hope's. They had to stay all 
night in the cold and rain. In the morning the Boche 
saw them and began throwing in four-inch shells. Two 
Frenchmen were killed near them, but the California 
fellows got out O. K. — mighty lucky." 

When the Transport Service was taken over by the 
American Army in the fall of 191 7, Burton enlisted in the 
United States Field Artillery. After training, he was 
commissioned a Second Lieutenant, and assigned to an 
active command. On September 15, 191 8, just as he was 
starting for the front, a terrible toothache came on, and 
hoping to continue immediately with his reentry into 
action, "Ben" underwent an examination in Toul. An 
operation was decided upon at Base Hospital 45, and 
ether administered. Young Burton never came out of 
this anesthetic, however, and on September i8th he died 
of laryngeal oedema. 

His is one of those deaths which seem cruelly inap- 
propriate for a vigorous youth — for one who had al- 
ready served with the French armies and been cited for 
bravery. Yet for one of "Ben" Burton's fine spirit, the 
manner of dying — as the glorious climax of battle or 
unglorified in a hospital at the rear — could matter but 
little — since it was for his country and his ideals. 



158 




BENJAMIN HOWELL BURTON, Junior 

Born June r, 1896, in Willows, Glenn County, California. Son of Benjamin 
Howell and Anna T. Burton. Home, Colusa, California. Educated Colusa 
Grammar School ; Belmont, California, Alilitary School ; and University of 
California, Class of 1918. Joined American Field Service, May 19, 1917; 
attached Transport Section 133 to November 16, 191 7. Enlisted U.S. 
Field Artillery. Commissioned Second Lieutenant; attached Motor Bat- 
tery. Died September 18, 1918, under ether, of larnygeal oedema, during 
operation at Base Hospital, Toul. Buried American Cemetery, Toul, 
Meurthe-et-Moselle. Body to be transferred to Willows, Glenn County, 
California. 




WILLIAM HENRY TAYLOR, Junior 

Born December 6, 1898, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Son of William H. and 
Nellie Grace Taylor. Home, New York City. Educated Phillips Academy, 
Andover, Class of 1918. Joined American Field Service, April 28, 1917; 
attached Transport Section 526 as Sous-Chef, to August 27, 1917. Enlisted 
U.S. Aviation, August 28, 1917. Trained Issoudun and Toul. Commis- 
sioned First Lieutenant, November 29th. To front with 95th Aero Squad- 
ron, February, 19 18; Flight Commander. Hospital following accident, 
June to September, 1918. Shot down and killed, September 18, 1918, near 
Lake Lachausee, north of Thiaucourt. Croix de Guerre with palm. Rec- 
ommended D. S. C. Officially credited two enemy planes. Buriedin St. 
Mihiel American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle. 



WILLIAM HENRY TAYLOR, Junior 

** Big Bill " Taylor was what he was called by his com- 
rades at Issoudun and Toul and the affectionate nick- 
name did not refer alone to his size. Though only nine- 
teen years old when he made the supreme sacrifice, he had 
already shown himself a natural leader of men. On his 
arrival in France in the American Field Service he was 
immediately made an adjutant in his camion section, and 
later on, though he was the youngest man in his squadron, 
he was appointed one of three Flight Commanders. He 
was "Big Bill," too, for his skill and daring as a pilot. 
"His exploits at Issoudun" says Major Claude Fuess in 
"Phillips Academy, Andover, in the Great War," "were 
remembered for months after he left there, — especially 
his feat of flying under low-hanging wires into a hospital 
court and then out over the enclosing wall." 

William was at Andover in the spring of 191 7, a mem- 
ber of the class of 191 8. Quite naturally he was one of 
the first to respond to the idea of an Andover Unit of the 
American Field Service. And on April 27th he sailed as 
a member of that body. He served with Section 526 of 
the camion branch until August 27th, when he received 
his honorable discharge, and the next day enlisted in the 
American Aviation Corps. Within two months he was 
commissioned First Lieutenant and early in 1918 he left 
for the front with the first American Chasse Squadron — 
the 95th. From the time of his first patrol he showed the 
same dash and ability as a combat pilot that had so dis- 
tinguished his work in training and it was only a short 
time before he received his appointment as Flight Com- 
mander. Captain John Mitchell, the commander of the 
95th Squadron, has described the combats that won 
William recommendations for the Croix de Guerre and 
Distinguished Service Cross "for displaying exceptional 
judgment and courage in aerial combat." The D. S. C. 
was unfortunately held up in spite of the earnest and 
unanimous requests of his immediate superiors but the 

159 



WILLIAM HENRY TAYLOR, Junior 

Croix de Guerre with palm was later awarded by the 6th 
French Army. "While on a patrol in the Toul sector on 
May 2ist," wrote Captain Mitchell, "he attacked and 
destroyed a bi-place German photographic machine 
which was operating over our lines and on May 28th, 
with another pilot, he brought down another bi-place 
German plane, out of a formation of five. In June while 
'taking off' from the field at Toul an accident occurred 
which caused him to be sent to an American hospital at 
Chateauroux, after which he went to Biarritz to re- 
cuperate." 

This unfortunate accident and the enforced absence 
from the front caused " Big Bill" to fret with impatience, 
and when he rejoined the squadron on September 5th, 
he was, in his own words, "spoiling for a fight." He 
"took an active part in the recent and successful St. 
Mihiel drive," wrote Captain Mitchell, "doing excep- 
tional work in low flying and ' straffing' retreating German 
troops and truck trains." On the i8th while on patrol, 
he saw through a gap in the clouds a battle going on 
below him. He dove immediately to the rescue, but as 
he emerged from the clouds he was attacked by three 
Fokkers and after a gallant fight against hopeless odds 
he crashed into the ground at Etang de La Chaussee near 
St. Mihiel. 

Bill Taylor was one of the heroes of the air, beloved of 
his associates. His laughing, courageous daring will 
never be forgotten, but he will live, too, in the memory of 
his friends for the greatness and sweetness of his nature. 
"I shall picture him always," wrote Dr. Stearns, the 
Principal of Phillips Academy, Andover, who early rec- 
ognized in Bill the qualities of manliness and leadership 
that war brought out so strikingly, "the same big- 
hearted, generous, clean and wholesome fellow it has 
been my privilege to know." 



160 



FRED A. HANNAH 

When a comrade was killed near Montgobert in June, 
19 1 8, Fred A. Hannah would not allow the brancardiers 
to make a hasty burial there, and refused to budge from 
the heavily shelled poste until the body was given to him. 
Then with greatest care and reverence "Shorty" drove 
back where a fitting funeral could be held. Hardly more 
than three months later he himself was killed. They 
buried him at Souilly, with military honors, and the men, 
with whom he had stood by that other grave, grouped 
now sadly about him, yet proud in their grieving. 

Fred was extremely reticent and never discussed his 
personal affairs, perhaps feeling them of small interest to 
others in so large a world. As his sister says, "It never 
occurred to him that he had ever done anything more 
than his duty." One entry in his diary is especially 
characteristic: "Have been lucky enough to be recom- 
mended for the Croix de Guerre. Don't know what 
for." But those who had worked beside him knew, and 
were glad. He always did more than his share. If a 
man lagged from exhaustion, somehow, without any 
fuss, "Shorty" was in his place doing the extra tasks. 
If a man had trouble, Fred was sure to be found helping 
him out of his difhculty. In fear, howevier, of appearing 
better than he thought himself to be, Fred tried to hide 
behind a crust of gruffness and a biting, sarcastic tongue,, 
his bigness of heart, unselfishness, and sensitiveness.. 
And yet he was remarkable in "his unassuming modesty,, 
his simple straightforwardness, and his hatred of all 
sham, hypocrisy, and pretense." "Shorty" had, too, 
an amazing fund of dry humor and an ability to recount 
his own adventures with a laughable twist that was ir- 
resistable. 

Fred was over draft age when war came, and below 
standard army height, being not quite four inches over 
five feet tall. Neither these facts, nor the unusual ac- 
tivity of his business that spring weighed with him. In 

161 



FRED HANNAH 



less than a month Fred wound up his affairs and was a 
volunteer in the Field Service, representing the Scranton 
Presbyterian Church, but meeting his own expenses. 
He joined Section Seventeen in the field, and served with 
it as a driver until his death. He had intended, in jus- 
tice to his business, to remain only six months ; but Fred, 
who would have scouted the idea of heroism or sacrifice, 
decided that personal interests must wait. The re- 
cruiting officers, however, rejected him for dental de- 
fects, and only after considerable treatment, a letter 
from Field Service headquarters, and a very informal 
examination, could he get himself accepted. His own 
accounts of this were excruciatingly comic. Yet what 
more truly heroic and pathetic than this lonely little 
man fighting to secure the privilege of dying in service. 

"His letters were cheerfully optimistic," writes his 

sister, " with never a complaint of hardships ; 

filled with the doings of the section and nothing of his 
own achievements." An old friend speaks of "his won- 
derfully clear vision of his duty," and Fred entered upon 
it not as an enthusiastic, careless youth, but with the 
mature judgment of a man who has counted the cost 

and will not be deterred. He became " one of 

the best drivers in the section distinguishing 

himself by his devotion to duty and the extreme gentle- 
ness and consideration he showed his wounded." "The 
biggest little man I ever knew," said a companion. 

On the night of September 20, 191 8, at Deuxnouds, 
not far from St. Mihiel, Fred was returning from duty 
when a German plane let fall a number of bombs. The 
first one landed close to "Shorty," wounding him terribly, 
and he lived only a few minutes. He had made his de- 
cision long before, and he was not afraid now. In those 
last moments he smiled, as a great man may, and went 
to meet death smiling, perfectly content to die for his 
ideals. 



162 




FRED A. HANNAH 

Born April 9, 1885, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Son of Hugh M. and Eliza- 
beth J, Hannah. Educated Scranton schools and lyiercersburg Academy, 
Class of 1907, In business with Unity Coal & Coke Company, Berwinsdale. 
Entered real estate business for himself, 1913, Scranton. Joined Ameri- 
can Field Service, July 9, 191 7 ; attached Section Seventeen to September 
20, 191 7. Enlisted as private U. S. A. Ambulance Service with French Army. 
Croix de Guerre. Killed by aeroplane bomb at Deuxnouds-aux-Bois, north 
of St. Mihiel, September 20, 1918. Buried at Souilly, Meuse. Body to be 
transferred to Dunmore Cemetery, Scranton, Pennsylvania. 




LEON HAMLINK BUCKLER 

Born January 6, 1894 in Farmington, New York. Son of John A. and 
Addie Hamlink Buckler. Home, Rochester, New York. Educated West 
High School, Rochester, and three years Rochester University, Class of 
191 7. Publishing business, Buffalo, and Curtis Aeroplane Company. 
Joined American Field Service, December 18, 1916 ; attached Section Four 
to summer of 191 7. Attached Field Service Camp, May-en-Multien. En- 
listed U. S. A. Ambulance Service with French Army. First Sergeant. Re- 
assigned Section Four (627). Died September 19, 1918, of pneumonia, in 
Urbes, Alsace, and buried there. Body to be transferred to Mount Hope 
Cemetery, Rochester, New York. Croix de Guerre. 



LEON HAMLINK BUCKLER 

The quiet heroism of Leon H. Buckler shines out so 
steadily and warmly from the simple narration of his 
services, that the following letter from a co-worker reveals 
the man with a sincerity and completeness difficult to equal. 

"The first time I met Buckler was in the late fall of 
19 16, when he joined Section Four of the American Field 
Service. He arrived at Ippecourt in the Verdun Sector 
when the snow was on the ground and the weather con- 
ditions the worst that had been seen in France in twenty 
years. He was a small, slight figure of a man, looking 
so delicate that one wondered whether he would have 
the physical strength and stamina to go through the 
War. We were living in Ippecourt in brushwood com- 
partments made by German prisoners, with very little 
protection from the weather. 

"It happened that I took Buckler up with me as 
orderly on my car to Esnes on his first trip to the front. 
We drove back and forth most of the night through a 
blinding snow storm in the bitter cold, with the usual 
amount of shelling on the road, as this post and sector 
were always pretty active. Buckler showed remarkable 
courage and no nervousness under the shell fire, and 
seemed as keen as mustard for the work. He exhibited 
an extraordinary amount of wiry strength in helping 
carry the wounded to and from the car, and in helping 
push the car through the snow and mud. Altogether 
we had a very strenuous night, and when we got back to 
Ippecourt for breakfast in the morning we were ready 
for a few hours' sleep. However, I found that I had to 
go at once to a hospital for a wounded man. I said 
nothing to Buckler, supposing he would want to finish 
his breakfast and get some sleep. Before I could get 
away he came out and volunteered to go with me so as 
to learn the roads to the hospitals. This showed the 
kind of a man he was, and his reputation with the Sec- 
tion was established from that time on. 

163 



LEON HAMLINK BUCKLER 



"He was a quiet, unobtrusive fellow, always on the 
job. He invariably kept his car in good order and 
showed a surprising strength for one of his slight build. 
A few months later, as Chef of the section, I considered 
Buckler a driver upon whom I could always depend, 
and yet we worried about him because of his delicate 
constitution. 

"Finally in the spring of 191 7, after having been 
through a winter at the front of terrific cold and exposure 
in which many of the section were taken sick. Buckler 
came down with severe pneumonia. In the hospital at 
Bar-le-Duc, owing to the best of care by the French, he 
was just able to pull through. What a welcome he re- 
ceived in his Section after his convalescence ! 

"When he recovered, I insisted at Headquarters that 
Buckler be sent to help in conducting the training camp 
near Meaux, that he might be less exposed to the cold 
and inclement weather for I feared that at the front he 
might again contract pneumonia. Buckler was, there- 
fore, sent to May-en-Multien, much against his will. 

"Later, in the fall of 191 7, he enlisted in the United 
States Army Ambulance Service with the French Army, 
was made a first Sergeant, and on his own very insistent 
request, was sent back again to the front with his old 
Section. Here he continued the faithful record he had 
always made in the old volunteer days, but in the late 
summer of 191 8, when the Section was working in the 
mountains of Alsace, he contracted another case of 
pneumonia, and from this he died on September 19th, 
in the little village of Urbes in Alsace Reconquise." 

"He left behind him many devoted friends and a 
record of courage and service and devotion of which all 
his friends and family may well be proud." 



164 



ARTHUR CLIFFORD KIMBER 

To'the memory of Arthur Clifford Kimber, of California, 
killed in action over Bantheville, France, is linked the 
distinctive honor of bearing the first official American 
flag to France after the United States joined in the Great 
War. These pioneer colors, dedicated at an impressive 
ceremony under the auspices of the Friends of France, 
in San Francisco, Kimber unfurled before Section Four- 
teen, drawn up with a company of French veterans, 
near Ligny-en-Barrois. 

When the Field Service was taken over by the United 
States Army, Arthur Kimber decided to enlist in avia- 
tion, and trained hoping to become a chasse pilot. This 
ambition he later realized, and during the heat of the 
great battles over the fields of France, in the summer of 
1 91 8, he was doing his share of the work as a fighting 
scout. He took part in three great battles while with 
the Americans: the Argonne, St. Mihiel, and Sedan 
drives. It was while he was so flying, and after a record 
of splendid achievement, that he was killed behind the 
German lines, September 26, 1918. 

Of Kimber's achievements, Mr. Henry D. Sleeper 
writes : "His death is equally mingled with tragedy and 
glory. It is the eternal epic of high-spirited and patri- 
otic youth. The finest blood of a nation is always ready 
to give the fullest sacrifice. Those who are willing and 
fit to give the most to life are also willing to give the 
most to death." 

Kimber left behind him at Stanford University an 
enviable record. Of his life as a student. Chancellor 
David Starr Jordan said, "The character of this young 
man was typical of the best in America, wise, resource- 
ful, and resolute, yet at the same time gentle and ideal- 
istic. It was my fortune to know him well as a student 
and to recognize his noble qualities. That war in- 
sistently devours such men as Clifford Kimber is its 
final indictment at the bar of civilization." 

165 



ARTHUR CLIFFORD KIMBER 



Kimber was born at Bayville, Long Island, on March 
29, 1896. He was a senior at Stanford when he offered 
himself to France for war service. Of his death his 
colonel, E. C. Whitehead, has written : 

"Arthur Kimber, of the 22d Aero Squadron, who was 
killed in action September 26th, stands out markedly 
as one of the bravest Americans that fought in this war. 
Even before he came to join the Second Pursuit Group at 
Toul in August, he had an enviable record among Amer- 
icans serving in France with the Ambulance Corps and 
while attached to a French escadrille before joining an 
American squadron. 

"On the 26th of September he set out on a patrol with 
his squadron. The pursuit planes were equipped with 
two light bombs. The mission was to "strafe" roads 
between Grandpre and Dun-sur-Meuse. The group of 
three led by Lieutenant Kimber went to the region of 
Romagne. Lieutenant Kimber dived toward the rail- 
road station. His machine suddenly blew to bits. It 
is, of course, unknown whether the shells of artillery 
from either side or a bullet from the ground striking the 
bombs caused the tragedy. He was a remarkable pilot ; 
a strong adherent to the requirements of duty ; an out- 
standing type of American air service officer." 



166 




ARTHUR CLIFFORD KIMBER 

Born March 29, 1896, in Bayville, Long Island, New York. Son of Arthur 
Cliflford and Clara Evans Kimber. Home, Palo Alto, California. Educated 
Palo Alto High School, and Leland Stanford University, Class of 1917. 
Joined American Field Service, May 14, 191 7 ; attached Section Fourteen 
to September 24, 191 7. Enlisted U. S. Aviation. Trained Issoudun and 
Cazeau. Commissioned First Lieutenant ; attached 2 2d Aero Squadron, 2d 
Pursuit Group. Served with French Spad Escadrille 85. Killed in combat 
over Bantheville near Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, September 26, 19 18. 
Body as yet unrecovered. 




PHILIP NEWBOLD RHINELANDER 

Born August 29, 1895. Son of Thomas Newbold and Katherine Rhine- 
lander. Home, Lawrence, Long Island, New York. Educated St. George's 
School, Newport, Rhode Island ; Thatcher School, California, and Harvard 
University, Class of 1918. Joined American Field Service, July i, 1916; 
attached Section Nine in France and Ten in Albania until July 16, 1917. 
Enlisted U. S. Aviation. First Lieutenant, November, 191 7. Trained Tours 
and Clermont-Ferrand ; attached 20th Day Bombing Squadron. Killed in 
combat, September 26, 1918, at Murville, over German lines southeast of 
Longuyon, near Audun-le-Roman. Buried Murville, Meurthe-et-Moselle. 



PHILIP NEWBOLD RHINELANDER 

Philip Rhinelander, with his boyish spirit, and his 
charm, the embodiment of a fine inheritance, was always 
a favorite in whatever group he mingled. Courteous 
and thoughtful of others but always with a playful smile 
on his lips, he won the affection, admiration, and con- 
fidence of everyone who knew him. Life seemed to hold 
everything for him, and yet one knows instinctively that 
he faced death with that same playful smile hovering 
about his lips. 

On September 26, 1918, the first day of the great Ar- 
gonne offensive, the Twentieth Aero Squadron, of the 
First Bombardment Group, was ordered to bomb, by 
daylight and at all costs, the railway bridge at Dun-sur- 
Meuse north of Verdun. Fourteen aviators crossed the 
lines to carry out this mission. " Phil " Rhinelander was 
one of the eleven who never came back. 

It was " Phil's " first trip over the lines. He was pilot- 
ing a DH4 bombing plane equipped with a Liberty 
motor. Near the village of Dun the flight to which he 
belonged beat off an equal number of Boche avians, and 
over Longuyon was again attacked, this time by about 
twenty German pursuit planes of the famous Richthofen 
Squadron, and a running "cat-and-dog fight" ensued. 

"We lost most of our best men," wrote Lieutenant 
Sidney Howard, the Flight Leader, "among them Rhine- 
lander " And Lieutenant Clarkson Potter^ 

who was decorated with the D. S. C. for his part in this, 
raid, and later himself shot down and killed in aerial 
combat, wrote in a letter home: "Several times during^ 
the fight I saw Rhinelander and Preston blazing away 
with their guns as fast as they could fire." An intelli- 
gence officer attached to the Air Service of the Fifth 
German Army has described the onrush of the Richtho- 
fen "Fokkers," and writes: "In the ensuing general 
fight three Americans, who probably wanted to cover the 
retreat of the others, were cut off. One of these was 

167 



PHILIP NEWBOLD RHINELANDER 

Rhinelander Three to five German planes 

pounced upon each of these, separated from the rest, 
in order to force them to land or to shoot them down. 
The three Americans put up a bitter fight and gave us 
hard work. The hopeless fight may have lasted ten 
minutes. The numerical superiority of the Germans, 
and their fighting routine, overcame their young ad- 
versaries." French eye-witnesses agreed that there 
were five Boche avians attacking his plane when "Phil" 
fell. 

Rhinelander left Harvard to join the Field Service in 
the summer of 191 6 and he remained with it as a volun- 
teer for more than a year. He was at first attached to 
Section Nine, then working in the mountains of Alsace- 
Reconquise. Afterwards he was one of those who vol- 
unteered to make up Section Ten, which was being sent 
out, at the especial request of French Headquarters, to 
work with the French troops in the Balkans. He re- 
turned to France in the summer of 19 17 and enlisted in 
the American Air Service, receiving his preliminary 
training at Tours and his finishing training as a bombing 
pilot at Clermont-Ferrand. 

The many friends "Phil" made during the war were 
not confined to his own countrymen. His bubbling 
gaiety endeared him as well to the French soldiers and 
officers with whom he came in contact. It was as im- 
possible not to feel attracted by his eagerness, liveliness, 
and grace as it was not to admire his intense loyalty and 
his unfailing anxiety to do his best. He fell to his death 
that day, close to the pre-war boundary of German 
Alsace-Lorraine, with the same high, finely-tempered 
spirit with which he had faced every experience that 
devotion to duty had brought him. 



168 



GEORGE EATON DRESSER 

George Eaton Dresser, powerful, athletic, and as 
modest as he was popular, was among the first to vol- 
unteer from Phillips Andover Academy and thus help 
bring the war home to his school community. Enlisting 
in the American Field Service, he joined Camion Unit 
T. M. U. 526 B which was made up mainly of Andover 
men and he served from June 25th to November 18, 
191 7. At the first opportunity offered him he entered 
the Tank Corps, and it was in this branch of the service 
that he met his death. 

While driving his tank through the Vauquois Woods 
in the first wave of the attack which crumbled the Ger- 
man line, the front of his machine was hit by a shell, and 
he was instantly killed. Taken sharply in battle, while 
in the act of highest service, his death was truly a fitting 
consummation to so active and brave a life. 

In his school he possessed a rare combination of 
leadership both in studies and athletics. He excelled 
in all kinds of sports, and stood high in his scholar- 
ship. For this "all-roundness" he received the Yale 
cup in his senior year at Andover. He also found time 
to sing in the Glee Club, and to act on the governing 
board of the Society of Inquiry, the religious society of 
Phillips Academy. Yet, to those who knew him best, 
modesty was his outstanding characteristic — incom- 
patible as that may seem with his great gift for leader- 
ship. 

Big, husky, and blonde, he was universally loved and 
deferred to. It has been said of him that he "repre- 
sented the highest type of boy, and gave promise of a 
remarkable future. He excelled in anything he under- 
took, and at the same time he kept his head." 
*^* "Having been in charge of the Andover Unit, of which 
Dresser was a member," writes Frederick J. Daly, "I 
can truthfully say that he was on the job at all times, 
and gave his best, which was always above the average.'' 

169 



GEORGE EATON DRESSER 



He was born July 24, 1898, in Chicopee, Massachu- 
setts. He entered Phillips Academy in 1915, and 
shortly after his graduation, two years later, he joined 
the American Field Service. 

George Dresser was one of the Phillips Academy men 
to whom this tribute in the memorial volume of his 
school, is particularly applicable : 

"Willingly enough they gave their youth, and their 
right to the light of life and friendship. We who knew 
them, and all that they were, realize the fullness of that 
offering. They never looked back but to quicken those 
who followed, and so, perhaps, led more surely than they 
knew. Out of their dreams they have left us great re- 
alities — and many tasks to make worthy these days 
that are still ours." 



170 




GEORGE EATON DRESSER 

Born July 24, 1898, in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Son of George and Lillie 
King Dresser. Educated Phillips Academy, Andover, Class of 1917. Platts- 
burg Camp, 1916. Joined American Field Service, June 25, 1917 ; attached 
Transport Section 526 to November 18, 1917. Enlisted U. S. Tank Corps. 
To front, September 6, 1918. Killed by shell, September 27, 1918, in action 
in Vauquois Woods, near Varennes, north of Sainte-Menehould, and buried 
there. 




STAFFORD LEIGHTON BROWN 

Born October 25, 1895, in Newton, Massachusetts. Son of George W. and 
Eugenie Stafford Brown. Home, Newton Centre, Massachusetts. Edu- 
cated Newton High School and Dartmouth College, Class of 1919. Platts- 
burg Camp, 1915. Joined American Field Service, March 12, 1917; at- 
tached Sections Seventeen and Nineteen, until October 18, 191 7. Enlisted 
in French Aviation, July 21, 1917. U.S. Air Service, January 21, 1918. 
Commissioned Second Lieutenant. Attached Acceptance Park, Orly. 
Killed in accident at Hargeville, September 28, 1918. Buried American 
Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. 



STAFFORD LEIGHTON BROWN 

With all the zest of youth and an adventure-loving 
nature, Stafford Leighton Brown went abroad a month 
before the United States declared war, and entered joy- 
ously into the precarious life of war: "It's certainly fun 
and excitement — something I 've always wanted." He 
was young and utterly unselfish at heart. He wrote 
home, "If I should happen to get killed don't blame 
yourself, I will die having a good time," yet in the next 
breath he could beg his mother to be gay : "Your letters 
are altogether too sad. You keep speaking about death, 
but we all feel that if one is fighting for the United States, 
dying is not to be feared — in fact it is quite an honor." 
To Stafford it was all a big, fine adventure. He could 
not realize that war was a thing of fears and forebodings 
for those who waited across the sea for news. The ex- 
pectation of combat and great moments, even should 
they bring an end to living, was to him glorious antici- 
pation. To his mind there was no cause for worry ex- 
cept in delays and idleness. He made sincere if unsuc- 
cessful efforts to relieve his family's anxieties, writing 
in his last letter: "Don't worry about me, I am as safe 
as though I were back in Newton Centre," then at once 
effaced his reassurances by adding that an aviator friend 
had been killed a few days before. 

Upon his arrival in France Stafford helped drive chassis 
from Bordeaux to Paris, then left with Section Seven- 
teen for the front as an ambulance driver, to be trans- 
ferred shortly as mechanic to Section Nineteen. His 
duty it then was to keep the whole section fit to "roll," 
besides which he drove truckloads of wounded and sup- 
plies, and in "rush" times took his turn with an ambu- 
lance. 

In August he went on leave and was released to enter 
aviation in the Lafayette Escadrille. "Expect to be 
chasing the Boche around up in the clouds in a;|few 
months — or being chased," he wrote. After training 

171 



STAFFORD LEIGHTON BROWN 



with the French, he enlisted in the American service, 
being breveted on May 2, 19 18. Having driven almost 
every make of plane, he was placed at Orly delivering 
machines to squadrons at the front. He grew "pretty 
sick of this 'ferry' job," writing : "It looks bad now for 
me. I '11 probably be stationed here for the duration of 
the war, because I know all the routes to the front and 
schools." 

He wanted his people to be proud of him "for having 
done something worth while or for dying while trying 
to do the same." "But that," he said, "is the feeling 
we all have over here, so it's nothing new." Typical of 
Stafford's unconscious generosity are his words, "I re- 
ceived your Christmas box. Everything was there and 
was finished in fifteen minutes. The fellows who shared 
the box with me send their thanks, too." However 
thoughtless of himself he felt keenly for others. He dis- 
liked testing and approving planes : "I would n't mind 
so much going out and getting killed myself, but I don't 
want to be responsible for someone else's death." 

On September 22, having "a chance to go to a large 
factory and test planes," he did not accept because it 
would be for "duration." So "Staff" went on, hoping 
always that he might be sent to a squadron, and feeling, 
as he expressed it, "pretty much of an embusque to be 
only driving machines out there for them to take and 
get killed in," until six days later his plane fell at Harge- 
ville and he was carried into the Chateau where he died. 
Not in combat, but in making tests that others might 
not die needlessly, and in furnishing them means of 
fighting, Stafford did his part, and in the end joined the 
ranks of the fighters who died in those same planes for 
their country. 



172 



JOHN HOWELL WESTCOTT, Junior 

No greatness can surpass the greatness of simplicity, 
and it is before such greatness thkt we stand humble in 
reviewing the war service of John Howell Westcott> Jr. 
There is nothing dramatic in it, nothing spectacular, 
just the faithful performance of what he considered a 
simple duty. 

In Brussels when the Germans invaded Belgium, Jack 
Westcott came into close contact with the war at its 
very inception. In October, 191 6, during his junior 
year at college, he slipped off to Canada to enlist in the 
British army, feeling that he must offer himself as a 
recruit. Being under age he was told that he must ob- 
tain his father's consent. In deference to his father's 
wishes, and to get more quickly to work, he consented 
to go to France as an ambulance driver. He served six 
months at the front, then hastened home to enlist in our 
own army, in June, 191 7. 

Arriving too late to enter the officers' training camp, 
and impatient of any delay, he applied for admission to 
the aviation branch. Fearing that he might not suc- 
ceed in this effort, and in order to lose no time, he also 
enlisted as a private in the old New York 7th National 
Guard Regiment so that he might be drilling while wait- 
ing a decision. All of which is significant and character- 
istic in the face of his personal friendship with President 
Woodrow Wilson, from whom he sought no favors in all 
his eagerness to get into active service. 

He finally passed all of his examinations for aviation 
and was told he would soon be assigned to his new duties. 
No further notice came, and at length, he learned that 
the records had been lost. Being then at Spartanburg, 
South Carolina, with his regiment, he decided to remain 
in the infantry. The regiment sailed in May, 19 18, 
and very soon joined the British army in French Flanders, 
where it was almost constantly in action for five months. 
Thus he had the satisfactron of working side by side with 

173 



JOHN HOWELL WESTCOTT, Junior 

the British, to whom he felt attached by bonds of deep 
and inherited sympathy, his mother being a direct de- 
scendant of John and Priscilla Alden, and had also the 
happiness of fighting for the France he loved. 

His last battle was fought at Le Catelet. He was 
killed in action while returning from delivering a mes- 
sage for his captain. Acting as an interpreter for his 
company, Westcott had been offered the position of in- 
terpreter on the Divisional Staff, but refused, hating 
anything short of what he considered his full duty. He 
died, at the age of twenty-one, a private in "L" Com- 
pany of the 107th U. S. Infantry. 

The very human, lovable boyishness of him is well 
expressed in the following letter from a "buddy": 
"Westcott was not as well known in the company at 
first as most of the boys. He was quiet, reserved, and 
did not seek the companionship of the others. He 
waited for them to come to him. When they finally 
did come to know him there was not a better liked nor 
more highly respected man in the company. After one 
really got to know 'West' his reserve seemed to dis- 
appear entirely. His sense of humor was of the finest, 
and with hife keen wits he continually kept us amused. 
I never heard him grumble." 

From a Princeton man comes the following apprecia- 
tion : "Jack Westcott had one of the most perfectly 
balanced characters I have ever known. In serious 
discussions his opinions, because of their soundness, 
generally won out. In more frivolous pursuits Jack 
again usually set the pace. In fact, he seemed naturally 
tt) possess all the qualities which go to make a young 
man popular with everybody. I never knew a more 
honorable and straightforward fellow. You could de- 
pend absolutely on his friendship being unfailing and 
sincere." 



174 




JOHN HOWELL WESTCOTT, Junior 

Born October 9, 1896, in Princeton, New Jersey, Son of Professor John 
Howell and Edith F. Sampson Westcott. Educated Hoosac School, New 
York ; Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania ; and Princeton University, 
Class of 19 1 8. Joined American Field Service, November 11, 1916; at- 
tached Section Nine until May 6, 1917. Returned to America. June, ap- 
plied for aviation and enlisted in 7th N. Y. National Guard Regiment. 
Records for aviation lost. Trained Spartanburg, South Carolina, as pri- 
vate. Sailed May, 1918, with 107th Infantry (ex-7th N. Y. N. G.),27th 
Division. Served with British Fourth Army. Killed by machine gun fire, 
September 29, 191 8, in action near Bony, south of Le Catelet. Buried 
Bony, near St. Quentin, Aisne. 




ALBERT FRANK GILMORE 

Born May 31, 1895, in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Son of Reverend Frank 
A. and Marion Gatchell Gilmore. Home, Madison, Wisconsin. Educated 
Madison schools and University of Wisconsin, Class of 1919. Joined Ameri- 
can Field Service, March 12, 191 7 ; attached Section Sixteen to November 
9, 19 1 7. Enlisted as Cadet in U. S. Aviation. Trained Tours, St. Maixent, 
Voves, Avord, and Issoudun. Commissioned Second Lieutenant. Died 
October 3, 1918, of pneumonia, while training at 3d Aviation Instruction 
Center, Issoudun. Buried Issoudun, Indre. Body transferred to Win- 
throp, Maine. 



ALBERT FRANK GILMORE 

Albert Frank Gilmore left the Univiersity of Wiscon- 
sin in the middle of his Sophomore year to enlist in the 
American Field Service. He reached Paris in March, 
191 7, and was attached to Section Sixteen, which left 
for the Verdun front about the middle of April. One of 
the members of the Section has said of its personnel: 
"'The Section was composed entirely of men who had 
come to France before America had entered the war, and 
the bond that united them from the very outset was their 
love for France." It was this love of France which 
made Albert Gilmore quick to see and appreciate the 
sacrifices that the French were making. In one of his 
letters home he wrote: "Everywhere in this beautiful 
country one sees the black dress or the black arm band, 
and yet, every day there are hundreds more giving their 
lives gladly for France." 

Endued with the same readiness to serve a cause and 
a nation which he esteemed so highly, he started work 
at the front and shared with his comrades the long sum- 
mer of preparation for the final attack of August 20th 
at Verdun, where the Section made a name for itself at 
Avocourt. He remained with the Section until it was 
absorbed by the American Army in November, 1917- 
Even before leaving the Field Service he was impatient 
to render greater service, and a few days after he left 
Section Sixteen, he enlisted in American Aviation. 

There followed the long delay with months of weary 
waiting at Tours and St. Maixent. Then at length 
came the eagerly awaited flying orders and training be- 
gan. After Voves and Avord came Issoudun. Al- 
though he had had a bad cold for some weeks he refused 
to allow it to interrupt his training. 

It was this fidelity to duty and this zealous prepara- 
tion for active service that cost him his life. He died 
of pneumonia at the 3d Aviation Instruction Center 
Hospital on the morning of October 3, 1918. In a letter 

175 



ALBERT FRANK GILMORE 



written to his Mother at the time of his death, his Com- 
manding Officer said: "Lieutenant Gilmore had just 
fairly started his flying at this center and was progres- 
sing nicely when he contracted his fatal illness. He had 
an excellent record and was universally held in high 
esteem by his brother officers. His death was a sad 
blow to all of us. You may always have the satisfac- 
tion of knowing that your son was a good officer and a 
true gentleman, a higher tribute than which there is 
none. He was intent upon preparing himself to play 
an important part at the front when the unfortunate 
sickness overtook him. His life was dedicated to his 
country and he left with his fellow officers an example 
of earnestness and faithfulness which will live long." 

It is from one of his own letters, however, that we 
glean the best evidence of that quiet, happy assurance 
and absolute fearlessness that characterized him at all 
times. It is a letter written to his parents in May, 
191 8, shortly after the death of his brother Bob at the 

Pelham Bay Naval Station, New York. " This 

morning when I was up at 2,600 meters I felt as every 
fellow feels, that there is no one up there but himself 
and God. It's a queer sensation — one doesn't dare 
even think a cuss word when something goes a trifle 
wrong with the motor. Before I came down at the end 
of my hour — I had been thinking of Bob — I could 
almost hear him calling from the edge of a big fluffy 
cloud just ahead of me: 'Hi! Al, you bum aviator, I 
got across all right.' I know he did, and I don't mind 
much where I pass out if I can get across to him all right 
too." 



176 



WALLER LISLE HARRISON, Junior 

Waller Lisle Harrison, Junior, died October 3, 1918, 
as the result of an aeroplane accident, and his body lies 
buried in the American Cemetery at Issoudun, France. 
"Harry was good as an aviator as in everything else he 
tried," writes one of his comrades, "and his death was 
caused by his overzealousness in doing his duty. He went 
into the air when he was feeling badly and should have 
rested, because he felt that he must fly in order to get in 
his work and not hold up the classes. His idea was most 
commendable, the result of it most disastrous, but it just 
went to make up the calibre of the boy." 

While a sophomore at Oberlin College, three months 
before America entered the war, he became interested in 
the work which the American Field Service was doing in 
France and determined if possible, to enlist. He was at 
the time but twenty years of age and it was necessary, 
before his application could be accepted, that he obtain 
the consent of his father, who objected to his enlistment 
on account of his youth and his uncompleted course at 
college. So great, however, was his tenacity of purpose 
and determination that he obtained his father's unwilling 
consent and sailed for France on February 14, 1917. 
His father has written of him : "Early in life he devel- 
oped qualities which indicated that he thought for him- 
self, drew his own conclusions, and was true to his con- 
victions regardless of consequences." 

From February until November, 191 7, he served with 
the American Field Service, first on the western front, as 
a member of Section Twelve, and later with Section 
Three in the Orient. Of a particularly attractive per- 
sonality, — popular, daring, and with many choice 
friends, — he quickly made a place for himself in both 
Sections as the following quotation from one of his com- 
panions proves: "Unselfish, generous to a fault, he was, 
truly a man among men and the example of living that 
he set helped us all." 

177 



WALLER LISLE HARRISON, Junior 

When, In November, he was released from the Field 
Service on his return from Albania, his greatest desire 
was to be accepted in the Aviation Service of the Ameri- 
can Army. Although he might easily have returned to 
America, or enlisted in some other branch of service in 
France, he waited for six long weeks for his application 
to go through, working, in the meantime, at such odd 
jobs as he could find in Paris, making enough to buy a 
scanty allowance of food, and sleeping on the floor, with 
his army blankets as his only bed, yet never for a moment 
regretting his decision to hold out for aviation. 

He was the type of lad destined to serve the world and 
he served it to his utmost. Not only did he give his ser- 
vice and his life to the cause for which his country was 
fighting, but more than this, he bequeathed to his com- 
rades the memory of a character and personality which 
must always be an inspiration to them. As one of them 
has written of him : "His was the supreme sacrifice and 
such a man was he that he met it as only a gentleman 
and a good soldier could meet it, for that was Harry 
throughout his life. His memory will never pass, for he 
was chief among us in giving the true conception of what 
real life is like. We are weighed down with the sadness 
of his passing, but such was the man and such the cause 
for which he died that the sadness can be only for the 
lonesomeness we feel. He has shown us the way, the 
hardest way that we shall ever have to go, and with the 
memory of his graciousness in doing his duty, our duty 
seems easy." 



178 




WALLER LISLE HARRISON, Junior 

Born July 12, 1896, in Lebanon, Kentucky. Son of Waller Lisle and Mar- 
garet Dugan Harrison. Educated Lebanon High School, Louisville Train- 
ing School, and Oberlin College, Class of 1919. Joined American Field Ser- 
vice, February 14, 191 7 ; attached Section Twelve in France and Three in 
Balkans to November 6, 191 7. Enlisted U. S. Aviation. Commissioned 
Second Lieutenant. Killed in aeroplane accident, October 3, 1918, while 
training, 3d Aviation Instruction Center, Issoudun. Buried American Cem- 
etery, Issoudun, Indre. 




TINGLE WOODS CULBERTSON 

Born January 15, 1886, at Echo Point, near Wheeling, West Virginia. Son 
of John D. and Sallie T. Culbertson. Home, Sewickley, Pennsylvania. 
Educated Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and Princeton University, 
Class of 191 1. Business, National Tube Company, Pittsburgh. Joined 
American Field Service, March 11, 1916 ; attached Section One to Novem- 
ber 16, 1916. On torpedoed Sussex en route to France, 1916. Returned to 
America. Enlisted U. S. Infantry ; trained Fort Niagara, New York. 
Commissioned First Lieutenant, attached 318th Regiment. To France with 
80th Division. Killed in action, October 4, 1918, near Bois des Ogons, 
north of Nantillois, Argonne. Buried American Cemetery, Romagne-sous- 
Montfaucon, Meuse. 



TINGLE WOODS CULBERTSON 

"Truly none but the bravest of noble men could have 
had the determination and the physical strength and the 
nerve to lead a front platoon into what he knew was 
awaiting him at that place," wrote a friend of "Ting" 
Culbertson, describing the way the latter led his com- 
pany up Hill 274, in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, Oc- 
tober 4, 19 1 8. 

In that advance the Lieutenant was killed, but his 
spirit went marching on, as one of his privates testified 
in the following words : "Such an influence as the Lieu- 
tenant had cannot end, but has left its impress on every 
man, and his name will be on the tongues of our children's 
children for what he meant to his men." 

"Ting" Culbertson felt the full force of the principles 
for which he fought. Early in March, 191 6, he went to 
France to join the Field Service, being upon the Sussex 
when she was torpedoed in the Channel. He served a 
year with Section One of the ambulance service, for the 
most part in the long battle around Verdun. Culbertson 
returned home in November and subsequently went into 
training at the officers' camp at Fort Niagara. Soon he 
was back in France with the Eightieth Division, in the 
318th Regiment of Infantry. 

Major J. C. Wise has described graphically the battle 
in which Culbertson lost his life, in a letter to the Lieu- 
tenant's parents : 

"At 5.45 A.M. your son led his company's advance 
platoon against the enemy. As the battalion jumped off, 
the counter barrage fell upon us, literally tearing the 
forward platoon to shreds. But the rear wave kept on 
toward the Bois des Ogons. Passing over a gentle crest, 
we met a tremendous barrage, and those who entered the 
woods were unable to hold their ground, falling back to 
the crest. Somewhere between the crest and the woods 
your son was last seen advancing. Of my sixteen officers 
four were killed and nine wounded. 

179 



TINGLE WOODS CULBERTSON 



"I consider it an honor to have commanded your son. 
I shall write no eulogy of his character. I admired him 
as a man, trusted him as an officer, liked him as a com- 
rade in arms, and know that he was greatly beloved by 
his fellow officers and men. Once I had occasion to re- 
prove him most harshly. His bearing was what it should 
have been had he been really at fault. I later discovered 
that he assumed knowingly the blame due his company 
commander. I shall regret all the days of my life that 
an opportunity never presented itself when I might with- 
out prejudice to discipline convey my amended under- 
standing to him." 

The nonchalant and characteristic attitude Culbert- 
son displayed toward discomforts that overtook him in 
war is evidenced whimsically in the following extract 
from one of his letters: "Turning off the main road we 
took a trail through the woods, ankle deep with mud. 
Aboui an hour before daylight we reached our camping 
place. I rolled up in a blanket under a tree. It was cold 
and water was coming down through the leaves, but I 
was soon asleep. Trifle wet when I woke up in the morn- 
ing, but that was a usual matter. This is a hard outfit 
by now and little things like sleeping on wet ground 
in the rain have long ceased to trouble us." 

In the letter from an officer in the same company, 
Lieutenant Fetters, the writer said that the men of Cul- 
bertson's command wept when informed of his death. 
"They lost an officer who had endeared himself to them 
during their period of training by his personality and 
conduct and had inspired them during combat by his 
leadership and personal example." 



1 80 



PAUL WARREN LINDSLEY 

Paul Warren Lindsley made his last flight at Issoudun, 
France, October 5th, just before his commission as Sec- 
ond Lieutenant arrived, which would have entailed the 
immediate service at the front which he had so eagerly 
awaited. 

Just five months from the day he had enlisted in the 
air service his name was inscribed on the nation's Roll of 
Honor. Returning one day from a two-hour flight, his 
machine suddenly made a nose dive and crashed to the 
ground. The cause of the accident was never learned, 
though it is the belief of some that he fainted. 

Young Lindsley, then only twenty-one, whose life 
ended so abruptly and prematurely, had already seen 
service in the war. He left thie United States in May, 
191 7, a member of the Marietta College Unit, with which 
he served six months in France. 

His term of enlistment expiring, Lindsley joined the 
American Red Cross, then in need of help to carry on its 
work behind the Italian army, at that particular time 
the principal field of its operations. When the German- 
Austrian onslaught there was stopped, Lindsley secured 
his release and went south to Foggia, where many Ameri- 
can aviators were training. 

Enlisting there on May 5, 191 8, he was soon working 
for a chasse pilot's commission. Here, after flying but 
thirteen times with an instructor, he was given his plane 
to fly alone, thereby lowering the camp record of fifteen 
flights with an instructor before solo work. 

In July he was sent to Tours in France, and shortly 
afterwards to Issoudun to finish his training. There, just 
as he was completing his hard and rapid preparation, he 
met his unfortunate death. 

He was buried near the great American aviation camp 
at Issoudun with full military honors. Of the impressive 
ceremony. Lieutenant Ben Putnam, a boyhood friend of 
young Lindsley from Marietta, wrote his parents: "I 

181 



PAUL WARREN LINDSLEY 



have just come back from 'Sol' LIndsley's funeral. I was 
the officer of the funeral and since the day of his death 
I have been a boy with a broken heart. It came as a 
mighty blow to this most magnificent of all flying schools, 
where deaths are a common occurrence, when the game, 
jolly, little fellow from Ohio was called upon to give his 
life for his country. 

"On the night of my arrival here, among the first to 
meet me was Paul. I had n't seen him for almost a year. 
He was exactly the same little fellow, a real man." 

Putnam wrote of Lindsley's courage and his clean-cut 
devotion to duty, that it was the same which his school 
boy chums in Marietta High School and Mercersburg 
Academy had known: "You can tell Mr. and Mrs. 
Lindsley that, standing beside the grave of their son, 
through the tears that I could n't have stopped had I 
tried, I uttered a vow, and that with God's help I'll 
carry it out. No son can give more, and no real son will 
ever be satisfied until he has made the same sacrifice or 
the dark mantle of war is lifted from this country." 

The "Marietta Observer" gives the early history of 
young Lindsley : 

" Paul Lindsley was born at Pueblo, Colorado, and when a 
young boy he came with his parents to this city where he has 
since made his home. Clean, energetic, and courageous, he was 
a favorite among a wide circle of friends, who to-day mourn 
his death. 

"He attended the Marietta High School and afterwards at- 
tended the Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. Paul has 
made the supreme sacrifice. His was the spontaneous joy of 
living, and his influence will be greatly missed by those who 
knew and loved him." 



182 




PAUL WARREN LINDSLEY 

Born June g, 1897, in Pueblo, Colorado. Son of Charles L. and Emma 
Bolard Lindsley. Home, Marietta, Ohio. Educated Marietta High School 
and Mercersburg Academy, Pennsylvania. Banking business. Marietta. 
Joined American Field Service, May 26, 191 7 ; attached Transport Section 
184 to November 20, 191 7. Joined American Red Cross in Italy. Enlisted 
U. S. Aviation, May 5, 1918, at Foggia, Italy. Trained there, and from 
July at Tours and Issoudun, France. Commission arrived three days after 
death. Killed in aeroplane accident at Issoudun, October 5, 1918. Buried 
American Cemetery, Issoudun, Indre. 




FREDERIC MOORE FORBUSH 

Born August ii, 1896, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Son of F. D. and Flor- 
ence Moore Forbush. Home, Detroit, Michigan. Educated Detroit 
Schools and Interlaken School, Indiana. Business with U.S. Tire Com- 
pany. Joined American Field Service, April 25, 1916; attached Section 
Eight to October 24, 1916. Returned to America. University of Vermont. 
Enlisted U. S. Naval Reserve. Eleven trips to France on U. S. S. De Kalb. 
Died of pneumonia, October 6, 1918, in Philadelphia hospital. Body cre- 
mated at Detroit, Michigan. 



FREDERIC MOORE FORBUSH 

Frederic Forbush's home, except for the first three 
years of his life, was Detroit, Michigan. Here he spent 
most of his school days and here he worked for nine 
months in a branch of the U. S. Tire Company, prior to 
his departure for France. His mother has written of this 
period of his life : "He was just the average happy, ad- 
venturous, fun-loving boy. He had a very keen sense of 
humor and often had amusing experiences in his associa- 
tion with all types of men and boys. He made friends 
easily and his greatest enjoyment was in the company 
of his many boyhood friends." 

In the early spring of 191 6 he enlisted in the American 
Field Service and sailed for France in April. The Section 
to which he was assigned, S. S. U. 8, did not leave for the 
front until the following month and for the intervening 
weeks he was quartered in the American Hospital at 
Neuilly. Here he first saw the results of the struggle 
which France was making and a letter written home at 
the time shows how tenderly he reacted to it : "I re- 
ceived my first shock of war yesterday as I was climbing 
the stairs to my dormitory. A French soldier was de- 
scending and his face was the most terrible thing I have 
ever seen, — all twisted and creased and wrinkled, and 
one eye and ear gone. He wore the Croix de Guerre, and 
when I saluted he came to attention and gave me a fine 
salute. Just that one short glimpse of him seemed to hit 
me awfully hard and when I got to the dormitory I just 
had to bawl, — I could n't help it." 

His Section left Paris the 25th of May and first took 
up work in Champagne. By the middle of June, however^ 
they were actively engaged in the Verdun sector, where 
they remained with but short periods of rest until Sep- 
tember. Of the sort of work Forbush did during the 
summer, the following letter, written by his Section 
commander some months later, is sufficient evidence : 
"At the time when we had our hardest and most trying 

183 



FREDERIC MOORE FORBUSH 



work at Fort Tavannes, I remember him as being one of 
the foremost to volunteer for any particularly hard run. 
When Keogh was hit, our one casualty, he was the one 
to volunteer to take his place and continue the run at 
the beginning of which Keogh was wounded. I can but 
say that I am awfully sorry to see him leave." 

On October 24, 1916, he resigned from the Field Ser- 
vice and returned to America. Desire to be near his 
fiancee prevented him from carrying out his original in- 
tention of returning to France and instead he entered 
the University of Vermont to complete his education. 
When war was declared in the following spring he enlisted 
immediately in the Navy and on the De Kalb, formerly 
the German raider Prinz Eitel Freidrich, made eleven 
round trips to France. Shortly before his first voyage he 
was married, and a year and half later a son was born 
who bears the father's name. 

He died at Philadelphia, October 6, 191 8, of pneu- 
monia, at the age of twenty-two years, but in his life, 
short as it was, had been crowded the experiences denied 
in a long lifetime to many older men. His mother has 
written of him : "Even as a little boy he was of the fear- 
less, happy-go-lucky type, and he retained those char- 
acteristics, even though sobered by his work in France, 
well calculated to make him thoughtful. He expressed 
always a deep admiration and love for France and a 
^reat satisfaction in having served her, — and for his 
own dear land he made the supreme sacrifice." 



184 



KENNETH ARMOUR BAILEY 

Lieutenant Kenneth A. Bailey, I02d Field Artillery, 
began his military career with the American Field Ser- 
vice. He enlisted in June, 1917, and was assigned to 
Section Seventy, which left for the front, July 15, 191 7. 
After a summer spent in the recently evacuated country 
around Noyon and in active participation in the Battle 
of Malmaison on the Chemin des Dames, he was trans- 
ferred with most of the personnel of this Section to 
S. S. U. 636 under the U. S. Army Ambulance Service. 
One of his fellow members of the Section writes of him 
in the American Field Service Bulletin: "'Bill' Bailey, 
as we always called him, had the happy faculty of mak- 
ing friends of all with whom he came in contact. We 
knew him as one who could be depended upon to do his 
part and more, whether work or a frolic was on hand, 
and we remember the long evenings when he would cheer 
the barracks with his large stock of Scotch songs. These 
same qualities caused him to be known, during his short 
career in the artillery, as one of the most efficient and 
popular junior officers of the regiment." 

It was characteristic of " Bill " that he never grumbled, 
no matter what the hardship or task might be, that he 
could be always counted on to do his duty and more, and 
that nothing ever seemed to upset or quell for a moment 
his prevailing good humor and ready wit. He was ex- 
ceedingly popular among his fellow members of the sec- 
tion and held from the beginning the deep respect and 
affection of his officers. 

During the winter of 191 7-1 8, spent in the Champagne 
Secteur des Monts, "Bill" began to turn his thoughts 
toward a combatant branch of the service. As he wrote 
in December, after seeing the heroic work of the French 
and the dastardly work of the Germans, he wanted 
"to get where he could throw things at Fritz and not 
pick up what he had messed up." Much of his spare 
time when en repos during the early months of winter 

185 



KENNETH ARMOUR BAILEY 



while others of his comrades were amusing themselves as 
best they could, he devoted to studying any available 
text book he could procure to fit himself for the work he 
had in view. Nor did this study prevent him from join- 
ing wholeheartedly in the life of the Section, for he was 
an excellent all-round good fellow. 

In April, 191 8, he was recommended for the American 
Officers' Artillery Training School at Saumur, France, 
and received the appointment. Here he made rapid 
progress and was graduated with honors, receiving his 
commission as Second Lieutenant on July 10, 1918. Eight 
days later he was assigned to Battery B of the I02d Field 
Artillery and was sent immediately into position near 
Chateau-Thierry. From then until his death, — he was 
killed in action, October 9, 191 8, — he gave himself de- 
votedly to his chosen work and took part in some of the 
hardest fights of that memorable summer. One tribute 
which he pays to his fighting countrymen must be quoted : 
"I never in the wide world can express the profound re- 
spect I have for the American doughboys. They have 
nothing in them that even resembles fear and are as 
irresistible as a forty-two centimeter shell. My hat is off 
to a doughboy every time." His point of view makes it 
easy to understand why he was so universally liked by 
the men under him and what his loss meant to both his 
subordinates and superior officers in the Battery. 

Nowhere did the news of his death come with a greater 
shock than to the members of his old ambulance section. 
We who had known him well as a soldier and a comrade, 
knew also the promise which life held for him, had he 
lived, and not one of us but has since faced life with a 
little more determination, and a little more desire for 
real service and self-sacrifice because of his example. 



186 




KENNETH ARMOUR BAILEY 

Born February 28, 1896, in Newark, New Jersey. Son of C. Weston and 
Sara Armour Bailey. Home, Glen Ridge, New Jersey. Educated Peddie 
Institute, New Jersey, and Stevens Institute of Technology. Joined Ameri- 
can Field Service, June 25, 191 7 ; attached Section Seventy. Enlisted U. S. 
Army Ambulance Service, Section 636. April i, 1918, transferred Artil- 
lery Officers' Training School, Saumur. Commissioned Second Lieutenant, 
July loth. Attached io2d Field Artillery, July i8th. Killed in action, Oc- 
tober 9, 1918, near Chateau-Thierry. Buried American Cemetery, Thiau- 
court, Meurthe-et-Moselle. 




WILLIAM NOBLE WALLACE 

Born January 13, 1895, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Son of Henry Lane and 
Margaret Noble Wallace. Educated Hill School, Pottstown, Pennsylvania, 
and Yale University, Class of 1917. Joined American Field Service, June 
17, 1916; attached Section One to November 27, 1916. Returned to 
America and College, Enlisted Marine Corps, July 5, 191 7. Appointed 
Second Lieutenant, Quantico, Virginia, August 27th; attached 34th Com- 
pany, ist Replacement Battalion. Sailed for France, February, 1918. 
Army School, Gondrecourt ; attached French Division ; attached 83d Com- 
pany, 6th Regiment, June 11, 1918. Wounded, Vierzy, July 19th. Pro- 
moted First Lieutenant, September 6th. Battalion Scout Ofificer. Killed 
by shell, October 9, 1918, in action near St. Etienne, Champagne. Buried 
between St. Etienne and Somme-Py, Marne. Body transferred to Craw- 
fordsville, Indiana. 



WILLIAM NOBLE WALLACE 

"He bartered Youth for Immortality," quoted a noted 
author in writing of his young friend, William Noble 
Wallace, who was killed in action near St. Etienne, 
Champagne, carrying high that standard of devotion 
which guided the lives of his ancestors. The first of his 
father's family in America was Peter Wallace, Scotch- 
Irish, who immigrated in 1724, while on his mother's 
side was General Arthur Sinclair, who came from Scot- 
land with Admiral Boscawen in 1758. His grandfather 
was General Lew Wallace, the Mexican and Civil War 
soldier and author. 

"The knightliest of the knightly race 
Who, since the days of old, 
Have kept the lamp of chivalry 
Alight in hearts of gold," 

"Such was this dear boy," continues the writer. 
"The General came instantly into my mind when the 
dark news came, and we, who know the fine quality of 
both, may ponder how the elder comrade saluted with 
fine courtesy the Knight of his own house, in the green 
valley where, beyond these voices, there is Peace." 

Lieutenant Wallace's war record begins with his en- 
listment in the American Field Service. With Section 
One he served in the vicinity of Verdun from June to 
late November, 191 6. Returning to the United States, 
he secured his degree of A. B. with his class at Yale in 
June, 191 7. Graduating from the Officers' Training 
School at Quantico in November, he was assigned to the 
1st Replacement Battalion and sailed for France on the 
U. S. S. Von Steuben. His organization landed at Brest 
and moved immediately to the training area near 
Chatillon. 

Wallace graduated from the ist Army Corps School at 
Gondrecourt at the head of his class, which allowed him 
ten days at the front with a French Division. On return- 
ing he served as Battalion Adjutant until transferred to 

187 



WILLIAM NOBLE WALLACE 



the famous 6th Regiment. With it he fought through 
Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Wood. On July 19th, while 
leading his men in the attack before Vierzy he was 
wounded and evacuated, but rejoined his regiment on 
October 7th. 

October 8th his company was withdrawn for replace- 
ments, but Wallace remained, having volunteered to 
reconnoiter the front line. His mission accomplished with 
great skill and daring, he was returning in the early 
dawn, when he was struck by a shell and instantly killed. 
The Distinguished Service Cross and Navy Cross were 
awarded Wallace for "extraordinary heroism in action" 
at this time. At the moment of his death he was a First 
Lieutenant, having been promoted September 6th, but 
he died without knowledge of this recognition of his ser- 
vice. His ambulance section had received the Croix de 
Guerre with Palm and his Marine regiment the French 
fourragere. 

The Indianapolis Star in a memorial editorial for 
Lieutenant Wallace said: "'Whom the gods love die 
young.' He was a soldier worthy of his traditions and he 

had the fatal speed of those about to die young 

that absorption of a lifetime in an hour, which we find 
in those who hasten to have their work done before 
noon, knowing that they will not see the evening. He 
carried the torch borne by his brave ancestors, and did 
them honor. Friends who mourn his early death may 
cry, 'The pity of it,* but if he echoed in his heart the 
poet's wish, *A short life in the saddle. Lord, not long 
life by the fire,' then indeed he had the career he 
wished," 



188 



WILLIAM CLARKSON POTTER 

It seems only yesterday that Clarkson Potter came to 
Headquarters in Paris and asked if he could not get to the 
front a little more quickly than any new Field Service 
man had ever gotten there before. He explained that 
he had just finished his Freshman year at Princeton, 
that he had spent about half his life in France, that he 
had his parents' permission, and that, in short, "the war 
had been going on long enough without him." 

So he was sent to Section One, where almost immedi- 
ately he became known as "young Potter." Small, slen- 
der, with frank eyes and a boyish laugh, he looked hardly 
a match for the grim work of war. But appearances were 
misleading. He was ready to drive "anything on 
wheels" ; he was keen to tackle any sort of road, and 
he seemed to consider skirting shell craters on a black 
night the best game he had ever played. 

He remained with Section One, doing good work 
through several attacks, until December, 1916, when, in 
order to be with some close friends, he asked to be trans- 
ferred to the Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps. By this 
time he was a seasoned as well as a daring driver. " Per- 
manently at an advanced post," read his citation for the 
Croix de Guerre, "Clarkson Potter made eighteen con- 
secutive trips without a rest in thirty hours and, in spite 
of the bombardment of the road by the German artil- 
lery, he enabled a great number of wounded to reap the 
benefits of rapid transport." 

In August, 1 91 7, he enlisted in the American Air Ser- 
vice as a cadet and was sent to Tours for his preliminary 
training. Upon finishing his course and receiving a First 
Lieutenant's commission, he went to Clermont-Ferrand, 
where he was given advanced instruction as a bombing 
pilot, and in September, 191 8, he was assigned to the 
20th Day Bombing Squadron. 

His first mission was to take part in a daylight raid 
over Dun-sur-Meuse on September 26th, the first day of 

189 



WILLIAM CLARKSON POTTER 



the great Argonne offensive. Only three of the fourteen 
men who that day crossed the lines with him returned. 
The remaining eleven, including "Phil" Rhinelander, a 
former Field Service man and Potter's best friend, were 
killed or brought down wounded and captured. Lieu- 
tenant Howard, the Flight Leader, and also a former 
Field Service man, has said that he owed his escape to 
Potter. 

"We were jumped," he wrote in the North American 
Review for November, 1919, "just after the bombing. 
Fokkers, five or six, came from behind, a second group 
from above, and a third from in front and below. They 
came out of peace and nothingness and were on us in an 
instant, diving through and flying as part of our forma- 
tion. Bullets hit my plane as though somebody had been 
peppering me with a handful of gravel. I believe I should 
have given up and tried a landing, had not Potter stuck. 
And how he stuck ! And in the end, when we did get 
back, three out of fourteen, one team and a half out of 
seven. Potter was as cool as — I have no simile." 

For his work that day Potter was given the D. S. C. 
"By his courage and disregard of danger," read the cita- 
tion in General Orders, "Lieutenant Potter saved the 
life of his leader and brought his machine safely back to 
our lines." 

But he did not live to receive this honor. He was 
struck, October loth, by an "Archie" while over the 
German lines at a height of eleven thousand feet. He 
was seen to turn and start gliding towards the American 
trenches, but, at about six hundred feet, he apparently 
encountered a strong German barrage which riddled his 
plane with bullets and killed both him and Lieutenant 
Wilmer, his observer. 



190 




WILLIAM CLARKSON POTTER 

Born July 31, 1896, in Dinard, France. Son of Clarkson and Mathilde 
Allien Potter. Home, Paris, France. Educated Wixenford Preparatory and 
Harrow Schools, England, and Princeton University, Class of 1919. Joined 
American Field Service, June 10, 1916 ; attached Section One until Decem- 
ber 10, 1916. Joined Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps. Croix de Guerre. 
Enlisted U. S. Aviation, August, 191 7. Trained Tours, Issoudun, and Cler- 
mont-Ferrand. Commissioned First Lieutenant, November, 1917. Sep- 
tember, 1918, attached 20th Day Bombing Squadron. D. S. C. Killed in 
action over lines, near Dun-sur-Meuse, October loth, 1918. Buried by 
Germans at Barricourt, Ardennes, near Stenay. Body transferred to 
Suresnes, Seine. 




LEON HENTON DONAHUE 

Born September 22, 1895, in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Son of Archibald 
and Maude Donahue. Home, Gloucester, Massachusetts. Educated 
Gloucester High School, Classof 1916. Business, and Arkansas Law School, 
Little Rock, Arkansas. Joined American Field Service, September 13, 
1917; attached Section Sixty-six, which became Section 623 U. S. A. 
Ambulance Service. Died of pneumonia. October 12, 1918, at Clermont- 
Ferrand. Buried American Cemetery, Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dome. 
Body transferred to Gloucester, Massachusetts. 



LEON HENTON DONAHUE 

Leon Donahue's mother writes of him: "Leon was 
gifted with an unusually happy disposition." And it is 
this quality which seems to have been one of the key- 
notes of his character. During his early days in the 
Gloucester High School his teachers always knew where 
to look for the source of any joke or amusing episode 
which transpired, and it was the principal himself who 
gave him the name of "Eternal Donahue" by which he 
was known throughout his school years. There was 
nothing the least bit malicious about his fun-making, 
nor did it prevent his winning the sincere respect and 
affection of his teachers and fellow students through his 
earnest work in the various school activities. 

On completing his high school course, in June, 1916, 
he determined to go west and after visiting several cities 
he at last located in Little Rock, Arkansas. Here he 
obtained employment with The Wear Ever Aluminum 
Company and at the same time attended Arkansas Law 
School. He spent a busy and profitable winter, but in 
the following spring, when war with Germany seemed 
imminent, he wrote : "It looks like war and I feel as if 
I must come back and enlist from my own State. I can 
not keep my mind on work, — my thoughts are all of 
war." He returned to Gloucester, full of enthusiasm, 
to find that he could not pass the physical examination 
owing to the fact that he was under weight and of rather 
a frail constitution. After a heart-breaking summer in 
which he tried without success to enlist in various 
branches of the service, he was at last accepted as a vol- 
unteer in the American Field Service. 

He arrived in Paris late in September, just as the Field 
Service was being taken over by the American Army, 
and enlisting in the U. S. Army Ambulance Service, was 
assigned to S. S. U. 623. With his Section he took an 
active part in the offensive on the Chemin des Dames 
during the fall and early winter of 19 17, and in the de- 

191 



LEON HENTON DONAHUE 



fensive operations of the Aisne in the following spring. 
His unfailing good humor and general adaptability made 
him exceedingly popular with his comrades. As one of 
them wrote: "He could do anything from filling the 
cook's place, when needed, to entertaining us with his 
mandolin." And another said of his work: "I have 
often admired him for his courage, his straightforward- 
ness, and the way he thought continually of those back 
home. Leon was manly to the core. I well remember 
how one day up near Soissons, he volunteered to go to a 
poste, the road leading to which was covered by German 
machine-gun fire, not to speak of artillery ; also how 
another time he carried food to us up past places which 
were close to and in plain sight of the Germans." 

During the course of the offensive in Champagne in 
September, 191 8, he fell ill with influenza and was evac- 
uated through various hospitals to Clermont-Ferrand. 
Here he died of pneumonia on October 12, 191 8, and his 
body was buried in the army cemetery at that place. In 
his last letter home he wrote of some of his friends who 
had been killed in service : " It's sad to see so many of our 
fine young men giving up their lives, but we must expect 
to suffer as France and England have suffered, and are 
suffering now." It was in this spirit that he faced death, 
glad to take his share of the burden whatever it might be. 
And as one of his most intimate friends has said : "I 
hope when I die that I will leave behind me as clean a 
record as Leon's." 



192 



GEORGE MERRICK HOLLISTER 

"In him I seem to see my dearest ideals realized. What 
strength and vision, what health and vigor of mind and 

body his genuineness a constant spur to those 

near him " These words which to us so well de- 
scribe George Merrick Hollister, he wrote of his young 
brother. They express something of what he felt a youth 
should be, and as accurately, although he could not know 
it, the feeling which his many friends had for him. 
Though visioning deeply he never preached ; his conduct 
bespoke the stalwartness of the high personal ideals he 
held. He was modest and unselfish, withal the most 
humanly alive person imaginable. His was the simplicity,^ 
the lack of all pretense, which is the heritage of great 
souls. He saw nothing of beauty or heroism in his own 
manner of facing actualities, but the example of his life 
and death has left us a guide to cherish forever. 

In 1908 George came east from Michigan a frail, 
lonely lad, but eight years later was at Harvard, strong 
in body, rich in friendships, and having made an enviable 
success, when, in the middle of his sophomore year, he 
went quietly away to drive the Middlesex ambulance 
in the American Field Service. With veteran Section 
Three his youth and zest, his reliability and unfailing 
good humor made George both loved and admired. Yet 
all he experienced impressed him deeply. "It is hard to 
say what the last two weeks have meant to me," he 

wrote after the first Battle of Verdun, " to see 

all that is finest in life and all that is most damnable. 
.... Now, with it safely over, life takes on a new 
glorious splendor. I do not even try to explain to myself 

why my share seems done, probably it is not " 

His share was not done ; his future held yet much of ser- 
vice, of suffering, and of sacrifice. 

After more than a year as a volunteer driver, George 
returned and secured a lieutenancy in America, going; 
back to France with the 6ist Infantry as Scout Officer, 

193 



GEORGE MERRICK HOLLISTER 



where, "the best known officer in the Brigade," he was 
loved and trusted as are few military leaders. 

On October 13th in the woods near Cunel, having lo- 
cated some Boche positions under a raking fire, George 
was killed by a shell. Perhaps the words in all the trib- 
utes to his memory which he himself would most have 
cherished are those of his orderly, a Greek, Nickolas 
Gouzoulis, "good soldier and good citizen." 

" He was my officer and wherever he 

would like to go, he had always use to take me with him 
for I was a sniper, also a confidential friend to him, 

.... George got severely wounded he call me 

and I crawls over and sees him in bad condition 

He don't last long for he died in my arms I wish 

you will be more than proud, for you had a son with 
plenty of courage and nerve, in fact, he was one of the 
best officers I have ever seen since I have been in France." 

Lieutenant Considine's story completes the picture of 
how George Hollister was beloved. " I had what was left 
of the Scouts George commanded, take both bodies to 
the southern edge of the wood and the exhausted men 

began to dig a grave Ordered back, the last thing 

we did before leaving that shell-torn strip was to wrap 
the bodies of those two friends in blankets, and with 
bared heads and a prayer we buried them not far from 

where they fell It was quite dark when we left 

after putting wild flowers over them, and the remnants 
of two companies with exhausted bodies and aching 
hearts left to their last rest two of the finest, coolest, and 
most courageous officers who ever faced and accepted 
death for our Flag." 



194 



GEORGE MERRICK HOLLISTER 

Born April 23, 1896, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Son of Clay Harvey and 
Justina Merrick Hollister. Educated Middlesex School and Harvard 
University, Class of 1918. Joined American Field Service, February 25, 
1916; attached Section Three in France and Balkans to May 9, 1917. 
Croix de Guerre. Returned to America. Army Service School, July. U. S. 
Infantry, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, November. Commissioned Second 
Lieutenant, February 25, 1918; attached 6ist Infantry, Camp Greene, 
North Carolina. Sailed for Brest, April 15, 1918. Attached 137th French 
Division, to August ; Battalion Scout Officer, 61st Regiment. Killed by 
shell, October 12, 1918, in action east of Cunel, at Bois-de-Forte, and bur- 
ied there. Cited, 5th U. S. Division. Body transferred to Argonne American 
Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. 




GILBERT ROBERTSON GLORIEUX 



Born January 4, 1896, in Irvington, New Jersey. Son of William L. and 
Jean Robertson Glorieux. Educated Newark Academy and Princeton Uni- 
versity, Class of 1917. Plattsburg Camp, 1916. Joined American Field 
Service, May 26, 1917 ; attached Section Nine to November 5, 1917. 
Returned to America in November. Enlisted as Private, U. S. Field Artil- 
lery. Trained at Camp Jackson. Died of pneumonia while a candidate at 
Officers' Training School, Camp Taylor, Kentucky, on October 13, 1918. 
Buried in Clinton Cemetery, Irvington, New Jersey. 



GILBERT ROBERTSON GLORIEUX 

Nothing more clearly shows the spirit of Gilbert Rob- 
ertson Glorieux than his declining, while still a private, 
to take up topographical work which would have led to 
a commission and instructorship, in America. His heart 
was set upon a speedy return to France and nothing less 
would satisfy him. He had gone over in May, I9I7> with 
a Princeton unit of the American Field Service after 
being turned down for Aviation, and joined Section 
Nine, then in the field near Pont-a-Mousson, when it won 
a citation for its voluntary work during air raids. After 
serving at the front he felt that the soldier was as humane 
as the surgeon, and came home to enlist in the American 
army. 

Gilbert grew up in Irvington, New Jersey. At school 
he "did just the things a boy would do; but always, 
from earliest boyhood days was he noted for absolute 
truthfulness." He read widely and was a popular mem- 
ber of several clubs at college. He sang in the choir at 
Princeton and was always keenly interested in athletics. 
Although of too slight a build for football or crew, he was 
the school's best man on "gym" and track teams. His 
never failing and whimsical courtesy is a thing that older 
people remember best; and to his contemporaries the 
idealism, and intolerance of wrong that carried him into 
the war and kept him in the army later against such odds 
of ill health, is memorable. He had, too, a rare twist of 
humor, and a keen penetration that gave him especial 
charm, and made his companionship a thing to cherish. 

After his return from France he succeeded in joining 
aviation, but collapsed the first day at camp and was 
sent home. For several months he nursed a heart nearly 
twice normal size. Flying school was now out of the 
question, so as soon as he improved sufficiently, Gilbert 
joined the Field Artillery. His own high sense of duty 
made Gilbert choose the hardest path. During the first 
week of his convalescence, he wrote, in a letter to a 

195 



GILBERT ROBERTSON GLORIEUX 

friend: "It is not entirely patriotism that makes me 
want to go — but I have been out to-day looking at the 
beauty of our old oaks, in a cluster, waving in the clean 
wind against the blue sky. I made friends with a spar- 
row and some bobolinks that balanced on spears of 
grass, and met a great cock pheasant breasting his way 
through the grass like a swimmer through the waves, his 
gay feathers shining and his red crest bobbing. Beauty 
and Love and Truth and Peace, are the reasons I want to 
go back, I should have to go, you see, whether we were 
in the war or not." 

He worked hard at Camp Jackson through the exces- 
sive heat of June and July, and wrote that he "expected 
soon to be able to carry a cannon under each arm with 
comparative ease." In August he was sent to the officers' 
training camp at Louisville, Kentucky, and his captain 
said of him, "I considered him one of the best men in 
my organization for a commission." There were times 
when he longed to be back in France as a private, and 
times when his heart "objected," as he put it, to the 
exhausting work. He was able, however, to keep up until 
a few weeks before he would have received his commis- 
sion, when he fell ill, this time with influenza, and worn 
out with the intensive training, developed pneumonia. 
Just as he died he said, "I wish I could tell you how 
wonderful it is, but it 's so hard to make you understand 
— The roll, the roll of honor!" 



196 



MERRILL MANNING BENSON 

After a year and a half of hardship and splendid service 
in the course of which occurred the accident that ren- 
dered him unfit for further action, — as he sailed west- 
ward with his heart full of the joy of home-coming, Mer- 
rill Manning Benson was suddenly stricken by pneu- 
monia and died on the morning of the day he would have 
landed in America. It was in September, 191 8, that 
the doctors decided to send him back from France on 
account of an injured knee, and October saw him safely 
installed on the Leviathan, — homeward bound. But 
his weakened condition left him helpless before the dis- 
ease that crept upon him, and though he fought bravely 
with a dogged unwillingness to acknowledge defeat so 
near to home and happiness, early on October i6th his 
spirit slipped silently away. Five years earlier a boy 
had been carried off a football field protesting wildly — 
though white with the pain of a wrenched ankle — at 
not being allowed to finish the game. Likewise in 191 8, 
Merrill was being sent home out of the "game" against 
his will. And as he would have preferred to have been 
back in France sharing their hardships so we know that 
he is well content to rest with those other brave spirits 
who had the good fortune — denied him — to die in 
battle. 

At the Sterling High School in Illinois where Merrill 
spent four of the fullest and happiest years of his life, he 
was one of the leaders. He played football and ran on 
the track team and was active in the literary and social 
activities of the school, — giving to everything the very 
best that was in him. Mechanics absorbed a great part 
of his attention and he early displayed a natural aptitude 
for the science. When, in the spring of 191 7 he learned 
of the work of the American Field Service while casting 
about for some means of offering his services to his 
country, he was immediately attracted by the oppor- 
tunity it presented for the practical application of his 

197 



MERRILL MANNING RENSON 



mechanical ability and knowledge. So on July 23d, he 
sailed for France, happy in the realization of his hopes 
and eager to make actual offering of his loyalty and 
patriotism. With many of his fellows he chose the 
camion branch of the Field Service which at that time 
presented a quicker and surer means of getting into 
action, and was sent out to Section 526, after a few weeks 
at the well-remembere d training camp at Chavigny, 
He fell easily into the work, tackling all jobs that came 
his way — were they pleasant or not — with zest that 
was characteristic of him. He was an expert driver and 
his professional services as a person acquainted with the 
whims and ills of gas engines were continually in demand. 
In October he was transferred to the American army 
as a member of the Mallet Reserve, being sent shortly 
after as an instructor to a motor transport school. He 
was eager, however, to get back to his old friends and the 
life he loved, and spring found him at the front again. 
The last letter received from him was dated September 
5, 191 8, and was the first in six weeks so it is probable 
that he spent the intervening time in a hospital, though 
in his desire to save worry on the part of his parents, he 
made no reterence to his accident and even now it is not 
known just how it happened. Quietly, uncomplainingly, 
he accepted his fate and when the biggest demand was 
made upon him we know he met it quite simply, like a 
soldier. 



198 




MERRILL MANNING BENSON 

Born July 16, 1895, in Sterling, Illinois. Son of William P. and Alice Man- 
ning Benson. Educated Sterling High School, University of Illinois, and 
University of Wisconsin, Class of 1919. Joined American Field Service 
July 23, 1917; attached Transport Section 526. Transferred to Reserve 
Mallet, U. S. Motor Transport Corps, October, 1917. Sailed for America, 
with injured knee, October, 1918. Died at sea of pneumonia, October 16, 
1918. Buried in Sterling, Illinois. 




WILBUR LeROY BOYER 

Born March 6, 1894, in Muskegon, Michigan. Son of Harry Nelson and 
Elizabeth Downing Boyer. Home, Chicago, Illinois. Educated Orchard 
Lake Military Academy, Cornell, and Leland Stanford Universities, one 
year each. Brokerage in Chicago. Joined American Field Service, Febru- 
ary 14, 1917; attached Section Four to August 29, 1917. Enlisted French 
Artillery ; Artillery School, Tank Service, near Paris. Lost eye, premature 
shell-explosion. Croix de Guerre. Returned to America. Torpedoed on 
Antilles, April, 1918. Enlisted U. S. Tank Corps, physical examination 
waived. First Lieutenant. In charge. Machine Gun School, Camp Colt 
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Died at home in Washington, D. C, on leave, 
October 19, 1918, of influenza. Buried in National Cemetery, Arlington, 
Virginia. 



WILBUR LeROY BOYER 

There is always an added glory to the achievements of 
a lad whose health is none too robust, and such was the 
case with Wilbur Boyer. He entered Cornell Uni- 
versity with the intention of becoming a civil engineer, 
but after two years was compelled to abandon the idea. 
As his mother has written : " Physically he was unfit for 
a career as civil engineer, as he had a bad leakage of the 
heart from early boyhood, a fact he never admitted until 
his last illness." 

After leaving college he was employed for a time in a 
broker's office in Chicago, until, in February, 191 7, he 
was accepted as a driver in the American Field Service. 
At the end of his six months' enlistment period, during^ 
which time he served with Section Four on the Verdun 
and Champagne fronts with remarkable energy and de- 
votion, he entered a French Artillery School near Paris. 
Here he was progressing rapidly in the tank service, as 
etudiant conducteur d'un tracteur blinde when the pre- 
mature explosion of a gun resulted in the loss of his left 
eye. Although badly wounded Boyer shoWed the great- 
est courage and presence of mind in extinguishing the 
resulting conflagration and carrying his Lieutenant to 
safety. For this he was awarded the Croix de Guerre 
with a splendid citation. He was on board the Antilles^ 
on his way home to recuperate, when the vessel was tor- 
pedoed and sunk. He was picked up and carried back 
to France and later sailed on the St. Louis. 

A friend of his mother's wrote of him, shortly after his 
return: "I was in his confidence during the year in 
which he put forth every effort to be accepted for service 
in France. He showed at this time the greatest per- 
severance and singleness of purpose until he succeeded. 
During his months in service I heard from him frequently 
and I was amazed at his powers of observation and his 
startlingly concise way of presenting facts. On his re- 
turn he showed two characteristics which are typical, — 

199 



WILBUR LeROY BOYER 



he talked very little and was very conservative when he 
did make statements. He said to me : * I cannot talk 
about what I do not know, and what is the use of end- 
lessly repeating what you have only heard.' He is a 
student and reads constantly the best books. His power 
of concentration is remarkable. I have seen him sit for 
hours intent upon his reading, utterly oblivious to the 
conversation going on around him. He is quiet and 
dignified, but is gifted with that keen sense of humor 
which relieves trying situations and makes men good 
companions." 

In April, 1918, while still suffering from the effects of 
his service in France, he had himself inducted into the 
service after much difficulty. Men were needed, how- 
ever, with his knowledge of tanks and machine guns, so 
that a physical examination was waived. At the time of 
his death on October 19, 19 18, he was serving as a First 
Lieutenant in the Tank Corps, in charge of a machine 
gun school at Camp Colt, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. 
He had gone home to Washington on a five days' leave, 
when he was taken ill with influenza and died. 

Undaunted by ill health and wounds, Wilbur Boyer's 
one idea had been to serve his country to the utmost re- 
gardless of the consequences to himself. No simpler or 
finer tribute could sum up his life than the words of his 
mother : "He was all I had, but he fought the good fight, 
lived his young life to the full, and was not afraid." 



200 



DANFORTH BROOKS FERGUSON 

While studying In Paris in 1914 Danforth Brooks Fer- 
guson of New York City first became involved in the 
World War. From that time until he finally gave his 
life on October 20, 191 8, except for a short visit home to 
the United States in 191 7, Ferguson's career forms a par- 
agraph in the story of American devotion to the cause of 
France and Civilization. 

"One cannot be in Paris without feeling and seeing the 
wonderful spirit of national heroism which is holding this 
country up," he wrote to a friend shortly before he en- 
listed in Section Two of the American Ambulance Field 
Service early in 19 15. 

Inspired by that expression of staunchness at which so 
many Americans later marvelled, he served with Section 
Two in the region of Bois-le-Pretre and Pont-a-Mousson 
where he and his fellows did remarkable service. 

Ferguson thoroughly enjoyed his work with the French, 
being imbued with a high sense of devotion to the 
cause. According to his comrades, while not having 
performed any spectacular feats, his part, however small, 
was done always with a good feeling which showed that 
his heart was in his work. 

"Um out here now doing a man's work," he wrote. 
"While we don't get into a great deal of danger, at least 
we can feel that we who have had the good fortune to 
have lived and studied in France can in a small measure 
repay her. And when the United States finally comes 
in to help La Belle France, perhaps the entente cordiale 
of these few ambulance sections will help tlie good feeling 
along." 

In another Ifetter he said, " I carried forty wounded 
today and am dead tired. Perhaps a great many of the 
wounded won't live for more than a few hours, poor fel- 
lows." 

Danforth Ferguson was born on February 28, 1895. 
A large part of his education he received at the Har- 

201 



DANFORTH BROOKS FERGUSON 



Strom's Tutoring School. He went to Paris to study 
early in 19 14 and was caught in the backwash of the war 
at its opening stages. He remained in Paris until he 
enlisted in an ambulance section in the spring of 191 5. 
During the summer of that year he was stricken with 
pneumonia from which his convalescence and recovery 
required many months. He subsequently came back 
to this country for a short time but returned to France, 
enlisting as a private in the Coast Artillery. He was 
attached to Battery A of the 42d Coast Artillery 
when he died a victim of influenza on October 20, 191 8. 
His body rests in the little burial ground at Dannemarie. 



202 




DANFORTH BROOKS FERGUSON 

Born February 28, 1895, in New York City. Son of Farquhar and Juliana 
Armour Ferguson. Educated Harstrom's Tutoring School, New York, and 
in Paris. Joined American Ambulance, France, October, 1914. Joined 
American Field Service, April, 1915; attached Section Two until August, 
1915. Returned to America. Enlisted U. S. Coast Artillery. To France, 
with 42d Coast Artillery. Died of pneumonia, October 20, 1918. Buried 
Dannemarie. Body transferred to an American Cemetery in France. 




HOWARD CROSBY HUMASON 

Born January 27, 1892, in New Britain, Connecticut. Son of Harris B. and 
Nellie Munroe Humason. Educated New Britain High School, and Tome 
"School, Port Deposit, Maryland, Class of 191 1. In business, Landers, 
Frary & Clark Company, New Britain. Joined American Field Service, 
May 26, 1917; attached Transport Section 184 until December, 1917. To 
America. Enlisted U. S. Aviation. Trained Ground School, Princeton, 
New Jersey, and from September, Camp Dick, Texas. Died in hospital, 
Dallas, Texas, October 21, 19 18, of pneumonia. Buried New Canaan, Con- 
necticut. 



HOWARD CROSBY HUMASON 

Even without the testimony of all who came in contact 
with Howard Crosby Humason, we should know him 
from his letters to have been conscientious, humorous, 
sincere, and likeable. He wrote often and at great 
length to his mother, giving a panoramic and remark- 
ably vivid picture of the war as it was unrolled before 
his eyes, and faithfully reproducing the story of his own 
daily life for her comfort and assurance even when he was 
so tired that letter-writing must have required great 
effort. He looked at the world sanely and objectively, 
contemptuous rather of sentimentality, and yet his mind 
was actively alert to impressions of every nature, par- 
ticularly to the humorous aspect of things of which he 
wrote in a quiet, amused way. In an early letter he 
described his unique method of getting "extras" from 
the French cooks at the camion camp where the food 
was good but insufficient in quantity: "I said loudly 
every time I approached the cook-tent, ' Vive la France 
and Beaucoup de Pommes de Terre!'" In October he 
wrote that when he arrived in Paris on permission he 
revelled in the luxury of a hot bath and "then went 
straight to sleep in a bed that made you wonder how you 
would get in and what would happen if you fell out." 
Bits of humor like this were interspersed with observa- 
tions of a more serious nature. In July, 191 7, he wrote : 
"In Paris the majority of the people feel the privations 
of war without the actualities, which makes them dis- 
contented and discouraged more than those who are in 
reality at war." ^ 

Howard was educated at the New Britain High School 
and at Tome School from which he graduated in 191 1. 
The school paper says that "he made an excellent record 
as a student and won the high regard of the masters as 
well as of the entire student body." He went immedi- 
ately into the employ of the Landers, Frary and Clark 
Company in New Britain where he remained until his 

203 



HOWARD CROSBY HUMASON 



enlistment in the American Field Service on May 26, 
191 7. To his business associates he disclosed, in the 
words of the paper published by his fellow employees, 
"a thoughtful consideration of others and an unfailing 
good humor." He went to the front in Section i, T. M. 
U. 184, of the camion branch and saw active service in 
the Chemin des Dames sector from July to December. 
Through his letters he has given one of the most ac- 
curate and vigorous accounts of camion life that has 
been written and it is regrettable that lack of space pre- 
vents quoting freely from them. 

In December, 191 7, he returned to this country for the 
express purpose of enlisting in American aviation, hav- 
ing been rejected in France. He passed his examina- 
tions with a 100% grade and was sent to ground school 
at Princeton. His fellow students there, writing to his 
mother after his death, remembered him as "not com- 
plaining of his troubles, humorous, always 

willing to hold up his own end and give the other fellow 
a lift." He graduated from this school in September 
and was sent to the flying field at Camp Dick, Texas, 
where on October 21, 19 18, he died of pneumonia. 

His employer, Mr. Charles F. Smith, said of him, 
"His quiet, unassuming faithfulness and diligence won 
the regard and confidence of his employers ; his kind 
heart and genial disposition, the affection of all his as- 
sociates." A boy friend wrote that he was "generous 
to a fault, kind and true," and the headmaster of Tome 
School recalled Howard as "one of the finest boys we 
have ever had in the school." We who read these 
tributes and have seen his letters can say with one of his 
friehds that he was "frank, generous, chivalrous, hon- 
orable, and a clean-hearted gentleman." 



204 



OSRIC MILLS WATKINS 

To few has been granted a magnetism — a charm of 
personality — so rich as that of Osric Mills Watkins. 
Wherever he went among high and low he made friends 
who loved him devotedly and who followed his career 
with eager interest, attracted to him by what a professor 
at Wabash College described as "his sturdy forthright- 
ness and sunny bonhomie." He was impulsively gen- 
erous, with a radiant and tender smile. He loved ani- 
mals and he reverenced women. Hugh Walpole says in 
his great book Fortitude, " It is n't life that matters, it 's 
the courage ye bring to it." Life to Osric was not always 
easy, but to his physical and moral courage it never pre- 
sented any overmastering problems. 

His mind was of a delicate imaginative quality, — 
"such stuff as dreams are made on," — sustained by a 
complete and beautiful religious faith. The following 
paragraph from a letter which was to be delivered to his 
mother in case of his death, shows not only the loftiness 
of his purpose but also his power of expression, — 

"This is n't to be mailed until I've gone where all good 
aviators go, Honey. You are so wise and brave and 
cheerful that I know you can be as proud as you are sad 
at my death. Of course there is scant reason to be sad, 
anyway. You would have wanted me to live that I 
might be happy for myself and that I might be a con- 
tinual source of pride and joy to you. Well, as for me, 
mother, my life has been one long history of happiness, 
and no other ending of it could have left me more con- 
tent. Could fifty more years have made it more per- 
fect? And so with you also. Could I have done any- 
thing to make you more proud ? With Liberty and true 
Christianity at stake you would never think of shrinking 
from the sacrifice." 

In May, 191 7, he left Harvard to enter the Boston 
office of the American Field Service. He went to France 
in July, traveling steerage in order that a poor woman 

205 



OSRIC MILLS WATKINS 



and her sick child might have his cabin, and spent a 
month there on a Field Service mission, returning in 
August. On October 3, 191 7, he sailed again for France 
and joined the American Air Service, writing to his 
family, "If you do not approve you have only yourselves 
to blame for teaching me in my childhood to love and 
honor — first God, then my country, and then my 
family." He became a keen, daring flyer, and all his 
fellow officers are agreed that he would have made an 
admirable fighter. One of them who came particularly 
to love and admire him wrote to his father, — "We all 
have our ideals of what a man, a Christian, should be, 
and Osric approaches as near to that ideal as it is humanly 
possible to come Sympathy, generosity, fidel- 
ity, humility, a general lovableness of disposition which 
one can not begin to describe, — all of these were his and 
more." 

In October, 191 8, at Bar-le-Duc, when at last on his 
way to the front assigned to the 94th Aero Squadron, 
First Pursuit Group, A. E. F., as a chasse pilot, he con- 
tracted influenza and later pneumonia from which he 
died on the morning of October 23d, calmly and serenely, 
justifying the promise made to his family, "I will face 
all things unafraid, both physical and abstract, as I have 
always tried to do in the past." It was not the death 
that he had dreamed, — glorified death in battle, — 
fighting. And it was a higher courage that could meet 
it smilingly. "I will face all things unafraid !" 



206 




OSRIC MILLS WATKINS 

Born February 6, 1897, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Son of Oscar Leon and 
Rosa Mills Watkins. Educated Shortridge High School ; Wabash College, 
one year, and Harvard University, Class of 1919. Joined American Field 
Service, May 23, 1917; attached American Stafif, Boston Office. Mission 
to France, July-August. To America, and returned to France, October 3, 
191 7, in U. S. Aviation. Trained Foggia, Italy. Commissioned Second 
Lieutenant, May 18, 19 18. Trained in France, Tours, St. Maixent, Issou- 
dun, and Cazeau. Assigned 94th Aero Squadron, First Pursuit Group. 
Died October 23, 1918, of pneumonia on way to the Front, at Bar-le-Duc. 
Buried Bar-le-Duc, Meuse. Body to be transferred to Crown Hill Ceme- 
tery, Indianapolis, Indiana. 




CHARLES BACON 

Born November 6, 1895, in Waltham, Massachusetts. Son of Clarence E. 
and Elizabeth Sheldrake Bacon. Educated Waltham High School and 
Dartmouth College, Class of 1919. Joined American Field Service, June 2, 
1917; attached Transport Section 184 until November 16, 1917. Enlisted 
U. S. Field Artillery, December 5, 1917; attached 103d Regiment, 26th 
Division. Killed in action between Haumont and Samogneux, October 24, 
1918. Recommended for heroism citation. Buried Samogneux, Meuse. 
Body transferred to Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. 



CHARLES BACON 

Charles Bacon wrote to his family in October, 191 7, 
while finishing out his term of enlistment with the Cam- 
ion Service, a letter unconsciously filled with an intense 
longing for home. At the end, however, he assured his 
family that he was not homesick but on the contrary well 
and happy, and philosophically concludes, " I would give 
a good deal to be home for Christmas but I guess we 
can not have everything we want." It was typical of 
his unflagging spirit that he would not admit his unhap- 
piness and it was equally to be expected that he would 
not let the thing that he wanted to do, stand in the way 
of his duty. We are not surprised to learn that on the 
very day on which the letter arrived in America, he en- 
listed in the United States Army as a private in the 103d 
Field Artillery. 

At the Waltham High School and during his short two 
years at Dartmouth College, "Dutch," as he was called, 
made many friends whose affection for him shines out 
from every page of the letters they wrote to his family 
on learning of his death. One schoolboy chum wrote 
with a feeling that was typical of them all, "He was the 
whitest man I've ever met, and every fellow that has 
known him thinks just that way. Believe me, he leaves 
a precious memory to us " 

Early in 191 7, Bacon realized the nearness of the 
crisis and thought out his own duty in regard to it. In a 
letter to his mother, dated March 4th, he deplored the 
necessity of war with its attendant suffering, but stated 
calmly without affectation, "I will surely join wherever 
I can do the most good." June found him on his way 
to France in the American Field Service. 

With his eagerness to see immediate action, he chose 
the camion branch and spent a happy and absorbing 
summer in T. M. U. 184 in a camp at Jouaignes, running 
up to the front near Vailly, on the Aisne. He wrote 
home long, ingenuous letters, full of the interest of his 

207 



CHARLES BACON 



new work, striving conscientiously to reproduce for the 
benefit of those at home the atmosphere of the Hfe he 
was leading. They are interwoven with bits of color 
and humor, and fairly breathe the affection and tender- 
ness he always felt for his family. In describing his 
sensations the first time he was under fire, he said, "We 
all felt like lost dogs." In another letter he gives us a 
different and interesting impression of his character. 
There were just two things he wanted, he wrote, — a col- 
lection of Robert Service's poems and a tin of tobacco, — 
and though he doubted whether the tobacco could be 
sent, he insisted on the poetry. 

Like many Americans he at first wrote somewhat dis- 
paragingly of the French, but he was quick to recognize 
and acknowledge his mistake. Later we find him saying, 
" It is great to think you are doing something for France 
I only wish I had come over a year or two ago." 

On December 5, 191 7, "Dutch" transferred to the 
American Army, enlisted in Battery C, 103d Field 
Artillery, 26th Division, and soon went into action. Of 
the last months of his life, crowded as they must have 
been, we know but little. In the late afternoon of 
October 24th, 1918, as he stood by his gun in a little pit 
to the right of the road that runs from Samogneux to 
Haumont, northwest of Verdun, he was struck and in- 
stantly killed by a shell that exploded just above him. 
His body lies now in the cemetery of the Commune of 
Samogneux. 

His captain described him as "fearless and reliable," 
and his lieutenant gave him high praise when he wrote 
"he was beloved by his comrades and always his work 
was of the best," but we know as certainly his worth 
when we hear the heart broken cry of his roommate of 
the old happy days at Dartmouth, — "I loved him, I 
loved him !" 



208 



GEORGE LANE EDWARDS, Junior 

Lieutenant George Lane Edwards, Jr., gave his life 
in the great war protecting his command. No finer 
tribute could be paid to any man. By this single act 
alone he has bequeathed to all who knew him the price- 
less legacy of an imperishable memory. 

A general order from Captain Potter telling of Lieu- 
tenant Edwards' death states that he was killed by 
enemy shell fire while putting in safety the lives of his 
men. "Lieutenant Edwards has been in command 
since the company's inception. He always gave the best 
that was in him, and was appreciated, liked, and ad- 
mired by all his comrades, of whatever rank." 

A letter from Commandant Mallet of the French army 
tells the circumstances of his death. While unloading 
a transport near Lor, part of Lieutenant Edwards* com- 
pany underwent a violent bombardment. 

"After hastening to the point of danger," Comman- 
dant Mallet wrote, "Lieutenant Edwards directed the 
personnel and material to a place of safety. He wished 
to go over the bombarded road once more to make sure 
that none of his men remained there. It was in so 
doing that he was hit by a shell and was so badly wound- 
ed that he died in the hospital the next morning. His 
commanders lose in him, a capable and conscientious 
officer, his comrades a true friend, his men an excellent 
commander." 

Lieutenant Edwards, in fulfilling his duty as he saw it, 
reveals the finest qualities of the American soldier, a 
thorough conscientiousness and an absolute disregard of 
personal danger. 

At the time of the outbreaks on the Mexican border 
Edwards was a student at Yale. He enlisted and served 
several months, then as soon as the troops were recalled 
he returned to college. 

When the United States declared war against Germany 
he tried to re-enter the service, but was rejected because 

209 



GEORGE LANE EDWARDS, Junior 



of defective eye-sight. He joined the Field Service and 
went to France with the Yale unit, entering the camion 
branch. He graduated from the French officers' school 
at Meaux, becoming Chef of a section, and later was 
transferred to the Motor Transport Corps of the Ameri- 
can army, where, enlisting as a private, he was raised to 
the rank of First Lieutenant within a short time. He 
had been serving in France for more than seventeen 
months at the time of his death. 

Lieutenant Lamade of the same reserve, sending word 
that Lieutenat Edwards had been awarded the Croix de 
Guerre with palm, added, " May I say just a word about 
Lane ? When I took over the group and became his im- 
mediate commanding officer, there was not another as 
willing to work long hours, to give thought and energy, 
as he, in order to make the group run smoothly. To tell 
you that he was loved by his men seems trite — but, oh, 
how true it is, and not only true of the men, but of us 
officers who have known him, and worked with him as 
we have. Lane died serving his country and fighting for 
the cause of France and humanity. His vision was 
greater than any of ours, and so we felt that it would be 
his desire to rest under the inscription we have put on the 
cross which marks his grave — 'Mort pour la France.' " 

Frank H. Kimber wrote to his father, ** Company C is 
broken-hearted this morning, for we have just learned 
that our Lieutenant was killed on convois two nights ago. 

He was one who was on the job till the last car 

was in camp, and even the men who thought he was too 
strict and over-conscientious, realize it will be impossible 
to get another Lieutenant who can handle the work and 

the company as well as he did He was one of 

the cleanest and whitest men I have ever known. In 
one sense the most fit to die, and in another, the most 
worthy of living." 



210 




GEORGE LANE EDWARDS, Junior 

Born October 8, 1895, in Kirkwood, Missouri. Son of George Lane and 
Florence Noble Evans Edwards. Home, Kirkwood, Missouri. Educated 
Taft School, Watertown, Connecticut, and Yale University, Class of 1918. 
Mexican Border, 1916. Joined American Field Service, May 26, 1917; at- 
tached Transport Section 133 to November 13, 191 7. French Automobile 
School. Commandant Adjoint. Transferred U. S. Motor Transport Corps, 
First Lieutenant, Section 211. Croix de Guerre with palm. Died October 
24, 1918, of wounds received night before between Lor and Neufchatel. 
Buried French Military Cemetery, Guignicourt, Aisne. 




PHILIP WINSOR 

Born February 6, 1893, in Weston, Massachusetts. Son of Robert and 
Eleanor Magee Winsor. Educated Middlesex School, Concord, Massachu- 
setts, and Harvard University, Class of 1915. Joined American Ambulance 
Service, September, 1916, Neuilly Hospital, until January, 191 7. Returned 
to America. Plattsburg Camp, six weeks. Joined American Field Service, 
June 20, 191 7; attached Section Four. Enlisted U. S. Army Ambulance 
Service, November i, 1917. Croix de Guerre, two citations. Died in Bus- 
sang, October 24, 1918, of pneumonia. Buried in Bussang, Vosges. 



PHILIP WINSOR 

The story of "Phil" WInsor is the story of one handi- 
capped from boyhood by illness which undermined his 
happiness and self-confidence, who nevertheless by sheer 
force of character won to health, achievement, and 
honor in his country's cause. 

One of his masters at Middlesex School writes of him : 
"'Phil' as a school boy was one of those rare sensitive 
chaps born with a super-conscientiousness that made 
him almost too good, and yet with this unusual charac- 
teristic he found his friends among red-blooded boys 
whose respect he at once won. This fact proves as well 
that he never flaunted his goodness nor preached to 
others who lacked his point of view. His election to the 
captaincy of the baseball team in his senior year at 
Middlesex showed his popularity among his mates. As 
an athlete he possessed a 'good eye,' and as a scholar 
a mind much above the average of his class." 

He entered Harvard in 191 1, distinguished himself in 
freshman athletics, but in the following spring was com- 
pelled to leave college on account of ill health. Return- 
ing after about a year's absence, he devoted himself to 
his studies and received his degree in 1916. In Septem- 
ber of that year he sailed for France to drive an ambu- 
lance for the American Hospital at Neuilly, in Paris. 

He returned in January, 191 7, and spent the following 
month in the south with his brother, who writes : "Dur- 
ing this month ' Phil ' was very unhappy, but there was a 
battle going on inside him, the forerunner of a very great 
victory. When war was declared he went to Platts- 
burg as a candidate for a commission, but after the first 
six weeks he was dropped from the squad and he himself 
felt that he was entirely unfitted for a command. 

"Phil" felt that he must get back to France in some 
capacity and yet he loathed the very thought of war and 
the horrors it entailed. Most of all he hated the sick- 
ening work of carrying wounded, and perhaps because 

211 



PHILIP WINSOR 



he hated it most he decided to take up the work again, 
and this time at the front. He was sent out in the early 
summer of 191 7 to Section Four, and when in the au- 
tumn the Field Service was absorbed by the American 
Army, he enlisted in the U. S. Army Ambulance Service. 
For a year it was an uphill fight. He doubted his ability 
to carry on the work he had undertaken and he dreaded 
the dangers to which he was exposed, yet to conquer this 
very dread, he always volunteered for any particularly 
dangerous task and was twice cited for the Croix de 
Guerre. 

With the summer of 191 8, however, came the reward 
of his long struggle. Through having forced himself to 
the utmost in his work, he began to take an interest in 
this work for its own sake. He forgot himself, his fears, 
his doubts. His health improved greatly and with re- 
newed health came new ambitions and ideals. He had 
long since won the love and respect of his comrades and 
the confidence of his officers, and now, by the latter, he 
was recommended for a commission. 

Then suddenly came the end. He fell ill with in- 
fluenza, penumonia followed, and on October 24, 19 18, 
he died in France close to the German Border with his 
Section. It seemed a horrible jest of fate that his life 
should have ended just as it was, in a real sense, begin- 
ning, — just as he was about to receive the rewards for his 
light which he had won. Yet dying as he did, what he 
gave to his country was a life, the more valuable for its 
splendid promise as a citizen ; what he left behind was a 
record of which any soldier might be proud. 



212 



MEREDITH LOVELAND DOWD 

Meredith Loveland Dowd was of the type of natural- 
born fighter to whom action and excitement are as nec- 
essary as the air he breathes. Fear he may have known 
in common with all brave men, but it never mastered 
him nor even deterred him for an instant from the 
career of daring that was his by choice. As a boy at 
Asheville School, he showed his adventurous, never-say- 
die temperament on the football field and as a member 
of the baseball and track teams. The school paper said 
of him, "While at Asheville he displayed the qualities 
which led him to give his life for his country — courage, 

manliness, determination, honesty He was a 

student of good ability and a boy of strength and fine- 
ness." At Princeton he played on the Freshman and 
Varsity baseball teams, the Freshman football team, and 
was on the Varsity football squad. He was also a mem- 
ber of the Elm Club. 

The voice of adventure called him to France in No- 
vember, 1916 in the American Field Service, for no man 
with his instincts could sit and study in a classroom while 
a war was going on. He went out to Section One near 
Verdun and plunged into the work with enthusiasm and 
vigor. A comrade tells of his service on the famous and 
dangerous Esnes-Montzeville run. "It was on this 
work that Meredith showed us his energy, his untiring 
and unselfish desire to work until it seemed to us that 
there was no limit to his endurance." 

In May, 191 7, when his term of engagement with the 
American Field Service expired, it was quite natural for 
him to enlist in the Lafayette Escadrille, for flying was 
sure to appeal to his venturesome spirit. He completed 
his training at the various French schools but was even- 
tually commissioned in the American Air Service. As a 
member of the escadrille guarding the city of Paris, he 
had an accident while "contour chasing," that danger- 
ous and difficult training in accuracy in which the pilot 

213 



MEREDITH LOVELAND DOWD 



attempts to keep as close as he can to the surface of the 
ground. "Had dipped my wheels in the Oise River and 
jumped telephone wires and bridges," he wrote, "and 
then decided to see how close I could skim along a field 
of wheat." Before he realized it his wheels had touched 
the wheat and were pulling him in with the result that 
he suddenly found himself upside down, but fortunately 
unhurt and undismayed. The French soldiers who 
came running to the scene found him smilingly but rue- 
fully regarding the wreck of his machine. Soon after 
this he went to the front assigned to the 147th Aero 
Squadron. On October 26th, he and three others were 
ordered to patrol the lines, but he was delayed on ac- 
count of engine trouble and his companions got off with- 
out him. He decided to follow and continued alone to 
the adventure that was to be his last. His commanding 
officer. Captain James A. Meissner, filed the following 
official report which was later used as a basis for the 
award of the Distinguished Service Cross : 

"Lieutenant Meredith L. Dowd, A. S., U. S. A. went 
on patrol over the lines on the afternoon of October 26, 
1 91 8 , at about two o'clock. Over the Bois de Dannevoux 
he observed four German planes. According to the 
statement of Private M. M. Buckland, 305 th Trench 
Mortar Battery, 80th Division, who saw the combat. 
Lieutenant Dowd first showed his markings to the planes 
as if they were Allied planes. As they did not answer 
his signal he attacked them immediately. The second 
time he attacked, one plane left the formation and 
headed for Germany. Lieutenant Dowd attacked the 
remaining planes three times, but the last time he drove 
on the formation, the plane which he had first driven off 
returned above him and shot him down. He fell in a 
steep dive and was dead when found by the French." 



214 




MEREDITH LOVELAND DOWD 

Born July 23, 1895, in Orange, New Jersey. Son of Heman and Mary Love- 
land Dowd. Educated Asheville School, North Carolina, and Princeton 
University, Class of 1918. Plattsburg Camp, 1916. Joined American 
Field Service, November 11, 1916; attached Section One to May 3, 1917. 
Enlisted French Aviation, May 14th. Trained Avord and Pau. Attached 
French Escadrille guarding Paris, Sergent. Spad Escadrilles 152 and 162 to 
February 17, 1918. Transferred U. S. Aviation. Commissioned Second 
Lieutenant, April, 1918; attached 147th Aero Squadron. Killed in com- 
bat, October 26, 1918, near Dannevoux, north of Verdun. D. S. C. Buried 
Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. 




RICHARD VARIAN BANKS 



Born March 31, 1894, in Ossining, New York. Son of Varian and Clara 
Williamson Banks. Educated Ossining schools, Holbrook School, and 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, one year. With Franklin Motor Car Com- 
pany, Syracuse, New York. Joined American Field Service, June 30, 191 7 ; 
attached Transport Section 526 to November 18, 191 7. Enlisted U. S. Air 
Service, December 2, 191 7, St. Maixent. Trained Tours and Issoudun. 
Commissioned Second Lieutenant, May 18, 1918. Killed in automobile ac- 
cident, October 30, 1918, near Nancy. Buried, Cemetiere du Sud, Nancy, 
Meurthe-et-Moselle. 



RICHARD VARIAN BANKS 

"What if he does not come, you say? 
Ah, well ! My sky would be more gray. 
But through the clouds the sun would shine 
And vital memories be mine. 
God's best of manhood is, I know. 
Not 'will he come,' but 'did he go.'" 

This simple sentiment by the father of Richard Banks 
speaks the spirit with which these parents bore the loss 
of their son whose name appears on the immortal list of 
those who gladly gave their lives for their country. The 
boy expressed his own patriotism in the following letter, 
written after two strenuous months of camion service in 
France : 

"From the first, this camion service, even when I was 
at home, was not my idea of serving my country best. 
I am doing a bit, but not my bit. I've seen enough fly- 
ing over here to realize its dangers, but duty first, and 
nothing will satisfy me in the execution of that duty but 
the highest service I can render. I may never qualify 
for a pilot, which would break my heart, but I would at 
least have the satisfaction of having hitched my wagon 
to a star." 

That he did qualify satisfactorily is evidenced by the 
fact that but five months intervene between his enlist- 
ment in aviation and the dating of his commission. On 
November i8, 191 7, he received his honorable discharge 
from T. M. U. 526 and the camion service, with which he 
had served since July 30th, and a fortnight later took the 
oath as a cadet in the air service. After much weary 
waiting at St. Maixent, he received his commission as 
Second Lieutenant on June 11, 191 8, effective from May 
18. 

How galling this waiting was to him can best be told 
in Banks' own words : "And with all this going on, here 
we are waiting. It surely is hard. The only consola- 
tion that we have is that we are needed, and are working; 
hard. But when you think of the gallant British and 

215 



RICHARD VARIAN BANKS 



French being slaughtered this very minute, and we in this 
war just as much as those poor devils, enjoying life, light, 
and sunshine, it doesn't seem right." 

Before Banks could realize his ambition of active ser- 
vice over the front lines, a truck in which he was riding 
crashed over a cliff to the bottom of a twenty foot gorge, 
— and a brave life was snuffed out. 

A few excerpts from letters of friends tell how they 
mourned the loss of "Dick" Banks. "I am truly 
stunned by the news you sent me about Dick, whom I 
loved as a brother," wrote his chum. "'It can't be 
true' has run through me a hundred times. The dis- 
appointment and the sense of immeasurable loss is over- 
powering. It is not so hard to die for one's country, I 
feel, for such a death does much to help the loved ones 
left behind ; but to die by accident for one's country is 
hard. 

" Dick had a far finer patriotism and realized the big- 
ness of the thing while we worked together more than I, 
for I was seeing only my own little job. And I shall 
cherish always his letters from the camion section. He 
was always eager to throw himself against the invader 
and despoiler and help avenge wanton destruction. Had 
Dick not been delayed in training camps, he would have 
made a name for himself in the sky, for he had the 
ability, the nerve, and the wonderful spirit." 



216 



JAMES DUDLEY BEANE 

At the Concord High School, James Dudley Beane is 
remembered "rather for the variety and ingenuity of his 
pranks than for his learning His was a rest- 
less young spirit, waiting for some interest outside of 
books that should seem real to him." It was undoubt- 
edly this wild longing for adventure that drew him in the 
summer of 191 6 from the dull routine of business life to 
France and the war. As an ambulance driver in Section 
Nine of the American Field Service, he had an oppor- 
tunity to observe the war at first hand, and to find that 
it was in the main as prosaic and unromantic as studying 
Latin or adding up figures. But, though he lost illu- 
sions, he caught in their place a splendid fire of enthusi- 
asm for France and for the greatness and sanctity of her 
cause. In 191 7, he entered French Aviation, but was 
later transferred and eventually commissioned in the 
American Army, being among the first American pilots 
to reach the front. The service, with its dangers and 
its glory combining to make it the most chivalric branch 
of the Army, appealed to his romantic and adventurous 
spirit, and he showed great adaptability and proficiency 
as a flyer. He was soon taking an active part in aerial 
combat with the enemy, in which work he was, in the 
words of his squadron commander, "vigorous and 
clever." 

On June 30, 1918, occurred his first exploit, — a fight 
against overwhelming odds, in the course of which his 
plane was completely riddled and two fingers of his left 
hand shot off, — rewarded by the following citation for 
the Croix de Guerre to the Order of the Army : "In the 
course of patrol duty, James Dudley Beane was attacked 
by several enemy planes, and although seriously wounded 
he succeeded in extricating himself and in bringing back 
his damaged machine. He showed in this circumstance 
much skill and great coolness." His own version of the 
affair, contained in a letter from the hospital, was quite 

217 



JAMES DUDLEY BEANE 



different, and very characteristic : "I lost two digits in 
a fight some time ago," he wrote briefly, "and have been 
laid up in the hospital ever since." 

On his return to the front he set out upon the business 
of bringing down Huns with redoubled energy and skill. 
It was not long before he became an "ace," having de- 
stroyed five enemy planes upon which official confirma- 
tion was secured. "He was quiet and modest about his 

achievements," says his commander, " and a 

braver or more skillful pilot would be hard to find." On 
October 29, 1918, he added two more Germans to his list 
in an inspired fight that is officially recorded in his cita- 
tion for the Distinguished Service Cross: "When Lieu- 
tenant Beane's patrol was attacked by eight enemy 
planes, Fokker type, he dived into their midst in order 
to divert their attention from the other machines of his 
group, and shot down one of the Fokkers in flames. 
Four other Fokkers then joined in the battle, one of 
which was also destroyed by this officer." 

The next day he flew out over the lines and engaged in 
his last "dog fight." In the course of the combat he 
disappeared from view, and was for some time listed 
among the missing. After the Armistice, however, his 
name was located in the official German records as killed 
in action, and later his grave was found close by the 
wreck of the machine that he had loved and in which he 
had made his glorious, imperishable record, in a little 
hollow off the road that runs from BrieuUes to St. Pierre- 
ment, in the Ardennes. 



218 




JAMES DUDLEY BEANE 

Born January 20, 1896, in New York City. Son of Edmund Murray and 
Kate Miles Beane. Educated Albany, New York, and Wellesley Hills, 
Massachusetts, schools, and Concord High School, Class of 19 14. Employed 
State Department of Education. Joined American Field Service, July 8, 
1916; attached Section Nine to July 20, 1917. Enlisted French Aviation; 
trained Tours and Issoudun. Attached 69th French Escadrille. Commis- 
sioned First Lieutenant, U. S. Air Service, January 8, 1918, detailed with 
the French. Wounded in action, June 18, 1918. Croix de Guerre and 
D. S. C. Transferred to 22d U. S. Aero Squadron, August 27, 1918. Killed 
in combat north of Grandpre, October 30, 1918. Buried near Brieulles- 
sur-Bar, Ardennes. Body transferred to American Cemetery, Romagne- 
sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. 




STEVENSON PAUL LEWIS 

Born December 2, 1892, in Toledo, Ohio. Son of Norman Stanley and 
Grace Chatterton Lewis. Educated Sharon, Pennsylvania, and Cleveland, 
Ohio, schools; one year Michigan Agricultural College, and graduated 
University of Wisconsin, February, 191 7. Joined American Field Service, 
March 12, 1917; attached Section Seventeen to September 8, 1917. En- 
listed U. S. Army, December, 191 7. Field Artillery School at Saumur. 
Joined 124th Field Artillery, Second Lieutenant, July, 1918. Promoted to 
First Lieutenant, October 31, 1918. Killed in action by shell, October 31, 
1918, in Bois de Bantheville, Argonne. Cited in American Army Orders, 
Buried, American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. Body to 
be transferred to Lakeview Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio. 



STEVENSON PAUL LEWIS 

" If I thought I could leave a name like he did, I would 
die easy any time." This was written of Lieutenant 
Stevenson Paul Lewis by one of his sergeants in the 124th 
Field Artillery, who added, "He was an officer in rank, 
but in his own heart one of the boys and we all knew it, 
and every one in the battery liked him , . ." "Steve's" 
captain spoke of the pride he felt in "having such a man 
as a lieutenant," and said that he served with the bat- 
tery through the St. Mihiel and Argonne offensives until 
his death, "rendering at all times the most valuable ser- 
vice possible for an officer. He was on liaison work with 
the Infantry, and directed a great deal of the effective 
fire of my guns, — at the same time performing impor- 
tant and hazardous missions for the Infantry, which re- 
quired skill, coolness, and bravery, and often took him 
within the German lines." Lieutenant Nedrow of his 
regiment wrote, "Lieutenant Lewis was not afraid of the 

devil himself I think he died as he would have 

wanted to, at the front facing the enemy I can 

not express our loss, — the loss of a great big boy pal." 

Similar ability and popularity had been Steve's In 
high school, at Michigan where he spent a year, and at 
Wisconsin where he received his degree, being on the 
track and football teams, a fraternity man, and several 
times a class officer. Again, when he volunteered in 
the Field Service a month after graduation and before 
America entered the war, he won many close friends by 
his quiet reliability and sturdiness of character. He 
shared in that effort which secured the section a divi- 
sional citation. 

"He was a great lover of nature," wrote Steve's 
father, "and was happiest when out on a long tramp or 
roughing it as a harvester in the Dakotas or Kansas, for 
it was in this way that he spent two of his summers." 
Abroad, too, his preference was for the strenuous, out- 
door life, and he made a game of his participation in the 

219 



STEVENSON PAUL LEWIS 



war, playing it with all his heart and soul. As one of 
his men naively wrote : "he was wise to the war game 
and we were blessed when he was assigned to us." 

A course at the artillery school at Saumur followed the 
completion of Steve's enlistment term in the Field Ser- 
vice, and he joined the 124th Field Artillery as a Second 
Lieutenant. The colonel spoke of his zeal in asking 
always for the most hazardous tasks. Steve remained 
for sixteen days with the attacking infantry at one time, 
"requesting" to remain when the other liaison officers 
were replaced. Of his narrow escapes he said, " I am 
lucky, I guess, also, I 'play' the shells." His one fear 
was that he might be called back to a school as an in- 
structor : "To be sent back there would be the biggest 
disappointment possible now that this outfit is in the 
line, and though it may be considered a reward, it is no 

place to be with any fighting going on I only 

hope they don't get me." His fearlessness was almost 
a love of danger. On a permission he climbed Mont 
Blanc alone, for "the reason that it involved a chance 
was enough." In June, 191 7, he had volunteered and 
served with the brancardiers when he was off duty as an 
ambulance driver. 

Having gone untouched with the Infantry through 
numerous attacks, Steve was killed by a shell on October 
31, 1 91 8, as he went forward to an observation post to 
adjust his battery's fire. In September he had written : 
"I hope the end will come soon, but I will never leave 
the line until I am absolutely incapable of any service, 
— then perhaps I can help in the S. O. S. in France. 
You must wait until it's all over before I return." Steve 
did not return home, but, as the regimental chaplain 
said, "He made the noblest sacrifice upon God's highest 
altar." 



220 



CHESTER ROBINSON TUTEIN 

If ever mail was asked to serve his country by waiting, — 
irritating, eternal waiting while he longed to be striving 
at the front, — such a one was Chester Robinson Tutein. 
In the autumn of 191 7 after three months with a camion 
section of the Field Service he decided to enter aviation, 
but, urged by the commander of the Reserve Mallet, he 
remained, with others who wished to leave, until their 
places were filled In November, Immediately Chester 
applied, but it was January before he was allowed to en- 
list as a private In the air service. Meantime he did 
whatever work they could give him at the aviation head- 
quarters in Paris. Then for five months after his enlist- 
ment he waited for assignment as a cadet to an instruc- 
tion center, doing "kitchen police" duty in camp. 
Training lasted from June until November and not until 
Armistice Day was he assigned to his pursuit squadron. 
Less than a week later he was killed in an accident. Yet 
as truly as If it had occurred In combat Chester died In 
his country's cause. 

"Chet" had many friends at the Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology when he left in his junior year for 
France and drove a truck In Section 526 through the 
summer, near Soissons, After this began his weary 
struggle to reach the front as a pilot. With good reason 
one of his classmates speaks of "the fine spirit he showed 
in going after his commission in the face of so much hard 
luck" and of his "pluck in sticking to it," 

Chester sometimes wrote bitterly of his imagined 
shortcomings and laziness, but through It all, as Lieu- 
tenant Gilbert, a fellow aviator, wrote, he had "'pep' 
all the time to cheer one on," and his commanding officer 
mentions especially that "he was always willing and 
cheerful about his work," His spontaneous humor made 
many a dull hour endurable for his comrades while for 
himself he said, "I have been a full-fledged army cook 
for two weeks and It has given me something to live for." 

221 



CHESTER ROBINSON TUTEIN 



"Chet" joked about his weariness, his work, his play, 
and about death. Late in October he wrote: "I will 
either be an ace in a month or pushing up daisies." He 
could be serious, too, for when a pilot and his observer 
crashed, he said : "Thank the Lord I have nobody rid- 
ing with me I do not wish to have my mistakes 

result in any other body's suffering." His writing was 
full of lively touches and, loving flying, he often caught 
with vigorous simplicity the feeling of it, as when he said, 
"The horizon seems to curve up and form a deep saucer 
with you flying over the center of it." 

The front was reached too late for Chester to do 
battle. Others thought immediately of getting home, 
but he anticipated months of policing the Rhine, for 
him homecoming also must wait. He was impatient only 
at the idleness. "Much more of this life," he wrote, dis- 
gusted, "will be about my finish," and next day while 
flying he seemed to lose control, spun straight to the 
ground, and was killed. "He went up in a Sopwith 

'Camel' played low and stunted close to the 

ground in a most wonderful exhibition of flying 

Returning, something went wrong and he fell." 

It seems a cruel, unreasonable end for such patient ser- 
vice, but in the steadfastness of spirit which kept "Chet" 
at his tasks however aimless and petty in seeming, is a 
real heroism finer than much loudly acclaimed in the 
war. The father of one of his chums, writing to Chester's 
father, voiced the faith that had been "Chet's" and 
which his whole life justified. " It is not Taps with which 
we lay them to rest, but the glorious notes of a divine 
Reveille for those who wake to see the Sun, for those who 
face the Morning." 



222 




CHESTER ROBINSON TUTEIN 



Born May 17, 1895, in Revere, Massachusetts. Son of E. Arthur and Edith 
Robinson Tutein. Educated Winchester High School and Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology, Class of 1918. Joined American Field Service, 
June 20, 1917; attached Transport Section 526 until November 19, 1917. 
Enlisted U. S. Aviation as cadet, January 5, 1918. Trained Tours, St. 
Maixent, Issoudun, and St. Jean des Monts. Commissioned Second Lieu- 
tenant, May 18, 1918; attached 185th Aero Squadron, November 11, 1918. 
Killed in aeroplane accident, November 17, 1918. Buried at Souilly, Meuse. 




ARTHUR JOSEPH BRICKLEY 

Born February 5, 1894, in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Son of John A. and 
Mary Jane Coughlin Brickley. Home, Charlestown, Massachusetts. Edu- 
cated Boston Latin School, Harvard University, Class of 1916, two years, 
and College de Rennes, France, two months. Plattsburg Camp, 1915. With 
Finance Committee, Boy Scouts of America. Joined American Field Ser- 
vice, June 30, 1917; attached Section Seventy-one to August 31, 1917- 
Enlisted U. S. Army Ambulance Service, Section 644 (ex-32). Croix de 
Guerre. Died of pneumonia, December 9, 191 8, in field hospital at Appilly, 
Oise, southwest of Chauny. Buried at Ploisy, Aisne. Body to be returned 
to America. 



ARTHUR JOSEPH BRICKLEY 

Arthur Brickley, although born with a frail body, 
made what might have been a handicap only a further 
incentive to achievement. One of his masters writes 
in the Boston Latin School Register of February, 191 9 : 

" Looking back ten years, we remember him as a slight, 
delicate boy, driven by a courage and energy which always 
threatened to burn out his life before It had well begun. It 
was this very courage, however, which carried him in spite of 
poor health through this school and made light of the hard- 
ships of foreign service." 

He had completed two years of his course at Harvard 
when he was compelled to abandon his studies on ac- 
count of ill health. In the summer of 191 5 he attended 
the first Plattsburg Training Camp and from January 
to June 1917, gave himself devotedly to secretarial work 
with the Finance Committee of the Boy Scouts. This 
work completed, he enlisted in the American Field Ser- 
vice and sailed for France. 

Attached to Section Seventy-One he spent the rainy 
summer of 191 7 on the Somme front near St. Quentin, 
in the desolate region which had been so recently occu- 
pied by the German forces. One of his comrades from 
this Section writes : " Brickley lived In my tent along 
with a dozen others during that dreary summer and I 
never saw him lose his temper or say a bad word against 
anyone. I remember a bunch of us peeling potatoes 
one morning in the rain. Everyone was growling and 
crabbing except Brickley who still kept his cheerfulness. 
He was always willing to help anyone and never failed 
to volunteer to substitute on duty If a man was sick." 
He spoke French fluently, having at one time attended 
for a few months the College de Rennes, France, and no 
matter with what French division his section was serv- 
ing he became at once Immensely popular with both 
officers and men. 

At the breaking up of the old volunteer service he en- 

223 



ARTHUR JOSEPH BRICKLEY 



listed in the U. S. Army Ambulance Service and was 
transferred to S. S. U. 644, formerly Thirty-Two of the 
Field Service. The following is quoted from the letter 
of a fellow member of this Section : "It was during the 
year that followed that I came to realize, as did we all, 
his generosity, his love of right and fearlessness of wrong, 
above all his wonderful optimism that never failed." 

Of his death the same friend writes : "During the last 
advance he was seized with influenza aiid evacuated to 
a field hospital near Chauny. To the very last he re- 
tained his optimistic esprit in spite of the fact that his 
sickness developed into pneumonia. He fought gamely 
for a month and then finally was forced to give in, on the 
ninth of December, 191 8. He died knowing that the 
cause to which he had given his life had not been fought 
in vain. Nor would it have been in vain had his cause 
failed, for the inspiration he gave to us in living and in 
dying is one we shall carry through life." 

Excepting the brilliant citation for the Croix de Guerre 
awarded him for courageous service under fire during the 
attacks of early September, 191 8, there could be no finer 
tribute to his memory than the words spoken at his grave 
by Medecin Principal Michel of the 37th Infantry Di- 
vision, which concludes as follows : 

"Nous avons tous connu et aime ce jeune conducteur qui 
est venu spontanement offrir son coeur, ses jours, sa vie 
a la France en peril. Partout il s 'est signale par son zele, 
son devouement, son excellent humeur, son sentiment tres 
eleve du devoir. 

''II n'a quitte le service que terrasse par la maladie qui 
devait le ravir a Vestime de ses chefs, a Vamitie de ses cam- 
arades, a I' affection de safamille. 

"Au nom du Service de Sante de la Division que vous 
avez si noblement servi, Conducteur Brickley, adieu!" 



224 



GALBRAITH WARD 

Galbraith Ward, a great great grandson of Major- 
General Artemas Ward, was known at St. George's 
School, where he prepared for Princeton, as a shy and re- 
served youngster who expressed himself more easily in 
writing than in conversation. There already he showed 
the firmness of conviction and steadiness of purpose that 
are so well illustrated by his refusal to accept a com- 
mission not won in the field. Few of us are capable of 
seeing our way so clearly and steadily and fewer still 
would have the spirit to refuse advancement because of 
an ideal conception of duty. But Ward saw with the 
clear eyes of a little child and acted with a man's courage. 

A Princeton friend writes affectionately of him, "He 
was the most genuine, unaffected man I knew. He had 
never found himself entirely and yet he had a mind that 
I know would have accomplished things worth while 
when he turned to the work that attracted him. I had 
many letters from him after he had left Plattsburg and 
through them all there ran the note of absolute honesty 
of spirit which was so characteristic of him. He had no 
thought of doing anything heroic. There was nothing 
quixotic in his courage. And it did take cold courage to 
do what he did — he wrote me that he had acted know- 
ing from his own observation what the job of a private 
soldier was in the trenches. He wrote me in the same 
vein after he had refused a commission at Upton — that 
he was determined to win his promotion in active ser- 
vice." 

In December, 191 6, Ward sailed for France in the Field 
Service where he served at the front in the Vosges De- 
tachment. In June, 1917, he returned to the United 
States, spending a short time at Plattsburgh and going 
to Camp Upton in September where he remained until 
the 77th Division to which he was attached sailed for 
England. He became corporal, sergeant, and finally 
chief of the battalion intelligence and scouting organiza- 

225 



GALBRAITH WARD 



tion under Major Freeman, 306th Infantry, which posi- 
tion he held during the fighting on the Vesle and the 
Aisne, through the Argonne and the advance to the 
Meuse. 

His work was marked by an inflexible determination 
to give all, — the same indomitable spirit that had al- 
ready been shown to be a marked characteristic of his 
and which was later to cause his death. The incident 
related in the following citation issued from the Head- 
quarters of the 77th Division we must regard as typical 
of the spirit that moved him: "On the night of Novem- 
ber 2-3, 1 91 8, while leading a detachment through a 
heavily shelled swamp between Thenorgues and Hard- 
court, this soldier showed an utter disregard for his own 
safety in directing and helping the men under him to 
find shelter, and then walked over one hundred yards 
through shell fire to the rescue of a soldier of the 304th 
Machine Gun Battalion, who had been severely wounded, 
bringing him to a place of safety." 

During the last days of the war he drew heavily on his 
reserve of strength, flatly refusing to go back to a hos- 
pital even when, as his Lieutenant wrote, "he was too 
sick to go on." On December 17, 1918, he died of pneu- 
monia caused by exposure and fatigue. 

Ward's battalion commander. Major John R. P. Free- 
man, who was with him from the early days at Camp 
Upton, wrote of him "Quiet, modest, and unassuming, 

capable and trustworthy ; and utterly fearless 

He gave the best that was in him ; he gave more because 
the terrific strain of the Argonne had completely under- 
mined his health and still he kept on until our work was 
done, when the doctor ordered him to the hospital where 
he died. 

"He was fine and clean and I'm very, very sorry that 
he has gone." 



226 




GALBRAITH WARD 

Born August 9, 1892, in Newport, Rhode Island. Son of Judge Henry G. 
and Mabel MarquandWard. Educated Allen School, New York City ; St. 
George's School, Newport, and Princeton University, Class of 1915. Joined 
American Field Service, December 2, 19 16; attached Vosges Detachment 
to June 2, 191 7. Returned to America. Enlisted U. S. Infantry, Septem- 
ber, 103d Regiment. Plattsburg Camp, and Camp Upton. To France with 
77th Division, 306th Regiment. Promoted to Corporal and Sergeant. 
Died of pneumonia, December 17, 1918, at Chateau Vilain. Buried Chateau 
Vilain, Haute-Marne. 




GEORGE WELLES ROOT 



Born November 21, i8g6, in Hartford, Connecticut. Son of Erastus S. and 
Lillian Dermont Root. Home, Hartford, Connecticut. Educated Hartford 
High School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Class of 1919. Joined 
American Field Service, June 25, 191 7 ; attached Transport Section 526 to 
November 19, 19 17. Returned to America. Enlisted as Private, U. S. 
Heavy Tank Corps. Promoted to Sergeant. Sailed for England, August, 
191 8. Died of diphtheria and pneumonia, December 25, 1918, at American 
Base Hospital, Salisbury Court, England. Buried Magdalen Hill Ceme- 
tery, Winchester, England. 



GEORGE WELLES ROOT 

When the United States entered the war, George Welles 
Root was too young to be drafted, but his desire to serve 
was not to be balked so easily, and in June, 1917, he vol- 
unteered for the American Field Service. A youth of 
twenty, he went to France as a member of the Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology Unit, and, shortly after 
his arrival on the other side, was detailed to one of the 
camion sections serving the French army on the Chemin 
des Dames front. Here he labored for six months — six 
months of hard, uninspiring, routine work — but the 
sort of work that was essential to the ultimate victory. 

At the expiration of his enlistment he returned to the 
United States where, in the spring of 1918, he enlisted as 
a private in the Heavy Tank Corps of the National Army. 
He was promptly made a sergeant, and sailed overseas 
with his battalion in August. Soon after landing in 
England he was stricken with influenza, complicated by 
pneumonia, and followed by diphtheria. He died, in 
service, on Christmas day, 191 8, at American Base Hos- 
pital 40, Salisbury Court, England, and was buried in 
Magdalen Hill Cemetery, Winchester, England. 

Sergeant Root was a lineal descendant of Chief Jus- 
tice Jesse Root who was for many years at the head of 
the Connecticut Bar and who served several years in the 
Continental Congress. He was a graduate of Hartford 
High School and a member of the Class of 1919 at Massa- 
chusetts Institute of Technology, where he was active in 
college affairs and a universal favorite. As early as his 
freshman year he was a member of the general staff of 
the Technology Monthly, and played on the freshman 
football team. 

Something of Sergeant Root's character was clearly 
evidenced by his actions in his last year of High Schol 
when his mother became critically ill. His tender care 
and supreme devotion to her, giving as he did, practically 
all his time outside of school to cheer and assist her, 

227 



GEORGE WELLES ROOT 



proved him to be a most lovable, thoughtful, and de- 
pendable son. Obviously such unselfishness was of the 
kind which would lead him to champion, as he unhesi- 
tatingly did, the cause of democracy and to fight for the 
ideals in which he so earnestly believed. 

"Your devotion to the highest ideals," wrote the late 
President Maclaurin of the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology, "and the spirit that has moved you and the 
other Tech men now 'somewhere in France' to give 
yourselves unreservedly to the cause of your country 
and humanity, make us feel proud and thankful. May 
you, and the other Tech 'boys,' be cheered by the 
thought of our confidence in your valor, and by our ap- 
preciation of the stimulating effect of your self-sacrifice 
on those that are still here, and may this Christmas, 
under such unusual conditions, crowded as it must be 
with memories of home and of those you left behind 
with anxious solicitude for your well-being, bring a 
special blessing to us all." 

Just one year later to a day, early on Christmas morn- 
ing at Salisbury Court, England, Sergeant George Welles 
Root, having been at the front in France, having re- 
turned to America for training, and now being again on 
his way to the fighting lines, received the ultimate re- 
ward of his services, as his spirit slipped triumphantly 
away to claim its place in the ranks of that immortal 
host — the heroes of the World War. 



228 



ARTHUR RICHMOND TABER 

"Archie" Taber from childhood was endowed with an 
unusually attractive personality and a splendid physique. 
" I can still see him so plainly as a wonderfully handsome 
child with superabundant vitality. Never do I recall 
anyone so thoroughly alive," writes an old friend. And 
as this fine body was building itself up, there was de- 
veloping at the same time, due in no small degree to the 
wise, and ever-watchful care of his parents, a character 
and intelligence of the finest calibre. 

As early as October, 191 5, and while still a student at 
Princeton, he felt the call of the work which Americans 
were doing in France, and enlisted in the American Field 
Service. He was one of the original members of Section 
Four which left Paris in November, and he remained at 
the front, in Lorraine and in the region of Toul with the 
Section for three months, returning to America in Feb- 
ruary to complete his course at Princeton. A year later, 
as his father writes, "He had the satisfaction of organ- 
izing and sending forward three Field Service units, 
each composed of twenty-five Princeton students. The 
impetus given by his efforts resulted later in the forma- 
tion and despatch, under the leadership of his successors, 
of two more units." 

By this time, however, his own interest was centered 
in aviation and on March 8, 191 7, he applied for a com- 
mission in the Aviation Section, Signal Reserve Corps. 
He did not enter the army as a flying cadet until June 
29th, but in the meantime he flew almost daily during 
April, May, and June, 1917, in the Princeton Aviation 
School, which experience stood him in excellent stead 
later on. Once in the army, he first completed the 
course at the United States Military School of Aero- 
nautics at Princeton, and in September, 191 7, sailed for 
England with a contingent of cadets for further training 
at the various English Aviation Schools of Oxford, 
Stamford, and Waddlngton. In February, 191 8, he was 

229 



ARTHUR RICHMOND TABER 



sent to France, and after perfecting himself at Tours and 
Issoudun, was commissioned First Lieutenant on April 
14, 191 8. On July 8th he was assigned to duty as trans- 
fer pilot in which position, during the remainder of the 
war, he had the privilege of performing arduous and es- 
sential service in delivering new planes, by air, from the 
headquarters at Orly, to training-camps and points at 
the front. He twice crossed the channel to England 
on special missions and once flew as far as Ireland. On 
February 11, 191 9, while in discharge of his duty of test- 
ing planes at Orly, he was killed by the fall of his plane 
due to the breaking of a control. 

Such is the service which Taber gave to the cause, be- 
ginning a year and a half before his country entered the 
war and continuing after the armistice and until his 
death. Yet splendid as this record is, "Archie" Taber 
will be remembered as much for the manner of man he 
was as for his achievements or anything which he could 
have done. 

The final measure of a man's worth lies in the judgment 
of his friends, associates, and comrades, and the following 
brief extracts from letters written at the time of his 
death show what this judgment is : "Arthur Taber was 
the best known, best beloved, and most respected man 
on this post." "He was liked and admired everywhere ; 
was one of the cleanest, straightest men I have ever 
known. He was to me, — as to others who knew him — 
ever cheerful, unassuming, and considerate ; one of the 
best, most earnest and enthusiastic pilots." "There 
was something indescribable about Archie that, without 
his saying anything, made you want him to think well of 
you." Briefest and perhaps finest of all is this brief 
tribute from a fellow aviator: "He was white way 
through." 



230 




ARTHUR RICHMOND TABER 

Born July 22, 1893, in Far Rockaway, Long Island, New York. Son of 
Sydney Richmond and Julia Biddle Taber. Home, Princeton, New Jersey. 
Educated Lake Forest, Illinois, schools ; Cloyne House School, Newport, 
Rhode Island ; Groton School, Massachusetts ; Sanford School, Redding 
Ridge, Connecticut ; Lake Placid School, New York, and Princeton Uni- 
versity, Class of 1917. Joined American Field Service, October 18, 1915; 
attached Section Four until February 7, 1916. Returned to America. 
Plattsburg Camp, 1916. Princeton Aviation School, April to June, 1917. 
Enlisted U. S. Aviation as cadet, June 29 ; trained Princeton. To England, 
September, 1917; trained in Oxford, Stamford, and Waddington. To 
France, February, 1918 ; trained Tours and Issoudun. Commissioned First 
Lieutenant, Aviation Section, Signal Reserve Corps, April 4, 191 8. Trans- 
fer pilot, Orly. Flying missions to England, August and November, 1918. 
Killed in aeroplane accident, February 11, 1919, at Orly. Buried American 
Military Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. 




CHARLES JAMES FREEBORN 

Born November ii, 1877, in San Francisco, California. Son of James and 
Eleanor Smith Freeborn. Educated San Francisco Schools, Westminster 
School, and Shefifield Scientific School, Yale University, Class of 1899. 
Director Freeborn Estate Corporation. Joined Ambulance Service, Neuilly, 
1914; helped organize "Paris Squad." Joined American Field Service, 
1915, as Assistant to Inspector General; recruited in America, 1916; at- 
tached Section Two, March 31, 1917, as Chef Adjoint to September, 1917. 
Croix de Guerre. Enlisted U. S. Army, Intelligence Department. First 
Lieutenant, July, 1918. Liaison Officer, French G. H. Q. Promoted to Cap- 
tain. L'egion d'Honneur. Died of influenza, February 13, 1919, in Paris. 
Buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, California. 



CHARLES JAMES FREEBORN 

** Charley" Freeborn — somehow we always called 
him "Charley" although he was a good deal older than 
most of us — was the sort of friend that only a young 
American who has left home for the first time to cross 
the ocean and serve in a foreign army can really appre- 
ciate. Whether you joined his Section at the front, or 
whether you came in contact with him when he was on 
duty at Headquarters in Paris, he had a man's way of 
making you feel at home and helping you over the rough 
spots of your new environment and filling you with a 
sense of what it all meant. A thorough American him- 
self, he, at the same time, loved France devotedly and 
felt that no sacrifice in her cause was too great. 

In England at the time of the First Battle of the Marne, 
he crossed, in December, to France to drive an ambu- 
lance, unable longer to remain merely a spectator. 
Speaking French perfectly, a competent chauffeur, and, 
above all, a tireless worker, he and a group of his friends 
rendered valuable assistance to the hard-pressed hos- 
pital authorities. He threw himself whole-heartedly 
into the work of the American Ambulance at Neuilly, 
helping organize what became eventually the Field Ser- 
vice. Of his aid at that time Colonel Andrew has 
written as follows : 

"In the early days of the War, when the Field Ser- 
vice was in its frail infancy, and its friends were doubly 
appreciated because so few, Charles Freeborn was one 
of those whom we particularly valued because we could 
count implicitly upon his loyalty and upon his readiness 
to undertake whatever he was asked to do. Although 
no longer a boy, and although long accustomed to a life 
of ease and comfort, he accepted willingly whatever 
hardships were involved in the varying details to which 
he was assigned. I recall particularly the winter of 
1 91 5-1 6, when he was in charge of a detachment of 
ambulances at Revigny, and how uncomplainingly he 

231 



CHARLES JAMES FREEBORN 



lived for weeks in the cold and filth of a ruined stable, 
scarcely fit for the cattle with which his detachment 
shared their quarters. I cannot forget, either, how he 
voluntarily crossed the ocean and went all the way to 
California in the following summer to carry our moving 
pictures of the Service to the people of that State who 
then were but little aware of the significance of the war." 
On returning to France he was given command of 
Section Two, then operating in the Verdun sector. He 
remained with this Section until the summer of 191 7, 
gaining the respect of all his men and making in every 
way an excellent leader. 

When America came into the war he was commis- 
sioned a First Lieutenant, quickly promoted to the rank 
of Captain, and given an important post in the American 
Mission attached to French G. H. Q. His discretion, 
his knowledge of French, and his long experience in the 
War, especially fitted him for this delicate work which 
lie performed so well that he received the cross of the 
JLegion of Honor. 

About the middle of January, 19 19, he was demobil- 
ized, and while at his mother's home in Paris, died from 
an attack of influenza. 

"Charley" Freeborn was always unusually uncom- 
municative about the fine things he did. Only his war- 
time friends know the full value of his services. " Don't 
throw any flowers at me. We are all parts in a big 
machine," he once wrote in reply to a warm letter of 
commendation. Nothing could have been more char- 
acteristic than that of the modest way in which, from 
December, 19 14, to the end he did his duty in the war. 



232 



CHARLES BENJAMIN KENDALL 

Except in the eyes of the biographer modesty is a virtue. 
For when a man is as self-effacing as was Charles Ben- 
jamin Kendall, it is unfortunately easy to overlook the 
depths of character, the steadfastness of spirit, the 
energetic devotion which inspired him and led him to do, 
so quietly as to attract little notice, his duties of service. 
His mother says "his letters were good," but vague be- 
cause of "his modesty in regard to anything pertaining 
to himself." "I think he was about the coolest and 
bravest man under fire in the Section," wrote J. Frank 
Brown, one of "Charlie's" comrades, "He was the best 
man to be with in a tight place. He received a mag- 
nificent citation which he fully deserved, but he was 
always very modest about his honors." He would not 
be downed, and his letters, even when things were going 
badly, showed only a fine optimism and forgetfulness of 
personal troubles in doing his work. Just before the 
offensive of August, 1917, he fell ill with a severe cold, 
but "got out of his bed to take part in the fun. He was 
always full of life and kept everyone in good humor." 
This trait of helping others and smiling at misfortune 
was apparent in his early days for even as a boy he was 
poised and considerate. 

His schooling was all had in Cambridge, the city of his 
birth, where his home was. Much interested in chem- 
istry, he made an excellent record at school, although 
always constitutionally frail. While still a mere lad his 
attitude toward his mother was that of a protector. 
Charles was always thoughtful of her, trying to guard 
her from troubles and worries, and to her as to everyone 
else his presence seemed to bring courage and confidence. 
This quality of easing the cares of others he carried 
through all his life. He was, in the words of his mother, 
"So big for a little fellow." 

Joining Section Seventy of the Field Service in France 
on Independence Day, "Charlie" served through the 

233 



CHARLES BENJAMIN KENDALL 



battles along the Chemin des Dames during the summer 
of 1917, writing jocularly of the Malmaison attack: 

"My machine was hit several times by eclat 

There were several times that I would not have given 
three cents for my hide or chances." Again he said : 

"It is terrible. I wish you could see and hear 

or rather I thank God that you cannot." Always he was 
full of fun and good-humored. He was a favorite with 
the French — officers and privates alike. He spoke their 
argot and made a point of learning the patois of the 
country. After each offensive he was the first to be 
given souvenirs by poilu friends. He entered into the 
work, reckless of himself but fastidiously careful of his 
wounded, volunteering for extra duties. Yet through 
it all he kept his characteristic dry humor, and jested 
most when situations looked blackest. A quip was 
ever quick on his tongue, but it was always a kindly one. 
Considerate, loyal, conscientious, he never thought of 
himself save as one more pair of needed hands in a great 
work. 

After the Armistice, weakened by the gassing he had 
received and his constant labors, Charles fell sick with 
influenza, entering a hospital on January 20, 1919. 
Bronchial-pneumonia developed and despite every ef- 
fort of doctors and nurses he died quietly on February 
15th. His nurses mentioned especially what a splendid 
patient he was. He wrote "I can't come home quick 
enough," and on the eleventh, that a nurse would write 
his mother so "that you won't worry because you have- 
n't heard from me." " I 've been very sick — now I 'm 
feeling much better." Patient, thoughtful of others, 
uncomplaining, until the end, he lay and waited for his 
going home. 



234 




CHARLES BENJAMIN KENDALL 

Born August ii, 1897, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Son of John B. and 
Mabel Slade Kendall. Educated Cambridge High and Latin, and Hunting- 
ton Schools. Joined American Field Service, June 25, 1917; attached Sec- 
tion Seventy to September 7, 191 7. Enlisted U. S. A. Ambulance Service, 
Section 16/634. Wounded and received Croix de Guerre, December, 1917. 
Transferred October 24, 19 18, to 104th U. S. Infantry. Gassed, November, 
1918. Died of bronchial-pneumonia, February 15, 1919, at American Hos- 
pital, Langres. Buried Langres, Haute-Marne. Body transferred to Mount 
Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 




RICHARD MATHER JOPLING 

Born July i6, 1893, i^i Marquette, Michigan. Son of James Edmund and 
Elizabeth Mather Jopling. Educated Fay and St. Mark's Schools, South- 
boro, Massachusetts, and Harvard University, Class of 1916. Plattsburg 
Camp, 1916. With New York Red Cross, 1917. Joined American Field 
Service, September 13, 191 7; attached Section Sixty-six. Transferred to 
U. S. Army Ambulance Service, Section 66/623. Croix de Guerre, two 
citations. Died March 16, 1919, in London, from shell-shock and strain. 
Buried Brockwood Cemetery, Surrey, England. 



RICHARD MATHER JOPLING 

"Then onward still ! with never thought of rest, 
Till all the tumult of the world is past, — 
That, with a conquering courage in our breast, 
We may be men at last ! " 

These lines of Richard Mather Jopling's form almost a 
text of his life. " I have n't done all I should have done 
or could have done," he wrote his mother upon his grad- 
uation from St. Mark's School leaving behind him de- 
spite his words, a splendid record of achievement ; " I 've 

a debt to pay by working faithfully, to the best 

of my ability, all through my life," and this purpose made 
his life one always of high resolve. "Dick" was a true 
artist, writing real music, prose, and poetry. Con- 
stitutionally delicate, his being was nevertheless alive 
with creative fire and energy, and his spirit flamed joy- 
ously high or flickered low in despair. But always to 
his comrades he showed only smiling good cheer to help 
them through the difficult days. Douglas Stewart men- 
tions his "glorious incapability of realizing his own 

greatness " He never realized that in his living, 

in overcoming an inherent timidity and physical frailty, 
and in conquering all unfortunate circumstances he gave 
inspiration to a host of men. Dr. Thayer, of St. Mark's, 
remembered gratefully his "vision of the poet and high 
purpose of the prophet." 

A sturdy conscience impelled his none-too-strong body 
to strenuous work, leading at the last to a heartbreaking 
death from nervous breakdown, after "Dick" had en- 
dured unflinchingly the ordeal of battle. The constant 
tension, the sickening, necessary brutalities, the ever- 
present sufferings of others, all the bitterness of war as- 
sailed and hurt him more deeply than most because of his 
sensitive nature, and finally caused his death. 

"Dick" loved his home devotedly and it was a lonely, 
homesick little fellow who left Marquette to attend Fay 
School in Southboro, Massachusetts. Mr. Fay makes 

235 



RICHARD MATHER JOPLING 



mention of his "severe, old-fashioned ideals of right and 
wrong, of duty and service and thoughtfulness of others." 
Going then to St. Mark's "Dick" entered eagerly into 
the school life. Some of his music was used by the 
chapel choir, for already his genius in composing was 
apparent, and his stories and poems appeared in the 
school magazine. Although in his own estimation he 
was lazy, yet he accomplished an amazing amount of 
work. Finishing the six-year school course in five years, 
"Dick" received his A. B. in three, spent one summer at 
the engineering camp, and another at Plattsburg. At 
Harvard, as an editor on literary and musical publica- 
tions, a composer of music for the "Pudding" shows, 
and a senior class officer, he was one of the prominent 
and best-liked men of his college generation. A year of 
graduate study was followed by a trip to South and 
Central America, from which he returned in time to 
apply for Plattsburg in 191 7. Rejected as below weight, 
he underwent in three months a surgical treatment 
normally taking a year, but even with strengthened con- 
stitution, he was again rejected. He immediately sailed 
with the Field Service, and, enlisting as a private in the 
U. S. Army, joined Section Sixty-six on the Aisne. Wil- 
liam G. Rice, Jr., his chief, had "an increasingly high re- 
gard for his loyal friendship and dependable work, and 
his skill and resourcefulness as an ambulance driver." 
His piano raised their spirits and morale, for "he would 
play happy pieces even when feeling as blue as the rest 
of us." Upon his leaves, too, "Dick's" playing for the 
"doughboys" gathered crowds in the casino at Aix. 

In London, returning from a visit to an aunt in Eng- 
land, "the strain proved too great and broke him down 
at last." As surely as if killed in battle he gave his life 
for the good cause. Death came to "Dick" Jopling 
because he had given himself utterly in service. 



236 



STEPHEN RAYMOND DRESSER 

The first and youngest going to war from his home town 
of Westbrook, Stephen Dresser gave incentive to the 
enrolment of others and also to the eager grasping by 
his townspeople of the various opportunities for war en- 
deavor. "He gave his life for what he realized to be the 
greatest cause in the world's history. And throughout 
the two years of warfare there was always the exaltation 
of service in his every word and act." 

Speaking of Stephen's youth a very old friend of the 
family says : "Those who knew him will never forget his 
bright young face, his manner so courteous to young and 
old alike. There was a manliness about him rare for his 
years, and yet, with it all, he was a real boy, delighting 
in the good things of boyhood." As he grew older 
"Steve" strengthened in this manliness as he did in 
body. As a lad of nineteen he had his place among men. 
A fellow driver says "he possessed all the attributes of a 

good soldier It was an honor to have been a 

comrade of Steve's the most self-sacrificing 

and bravest man I ever knew." His commander says, 
"Steve was one of the finest fellows that went across . . 
... as fine as I knew." As a child, as a boy, and as a 
young man Stephen won the affection and respect of 
comrades and acquaintances. 

In boyhood Stephen was ill with tuberculosis. He was 
in bed for months at a time, yet always he fought the 
disease, and cheerily, too. "Never discouraged, or 
blue, or peevish about his sickness," Stephen disciplined 
himself with the thought that "anything that ought to 
be done he could do." He loved people and was gen- 
erous to a fault. Big-hearted and helpful, "Steve" 
was loved by everyone. 

During his long spells of illness he turned much to 
books, which gave him a serious side unusual in a boy. 
He had, nevertheless, all a boy's interests. At last, a 
year or two before war came, thanks greatly to his will 

237 



STEPHEN RAYMOND DRESSER 



power, an absolute cure was effected, and Stephen freed 
of the burden which had always weighed him down, 
entered enthusiastically into the life about him. His 
sympathies were early roused for France and a month 
before his high school class graduated Stephen entered 
the American Field Service. Just before sailing he 
wrote : "We both know, Dad, what I am going into and 
I may never come back, but it is worth it to both you 
and me." 

In May, 1917, "Steve" joined Section Two in the 
Verdun region. For its work at this time near Mort 
Homme and Esnes the Section was decorated, and 
Stephen received his first Croix de Guerre. Twice later 
he was cited by the French, and on one of these occa- 
sions "when Steve learned he was to be decorated he 
asked that the medal be given to someone who had not 
received a cross before," but the lieutenant refused be- 
cause "of all the men to be decorated he had done most 
to merit it." With the militarization of the Ambulance 
Service he became a member of Section 552. Through 
the continued trials and disconsolations the words of his 
friend held true: "Steve worked uncomplainingly 
through it all — always cheerful," 

After the Armistice Stephen broke his arm and spent 
some months at hospitals and the Shepard convalescent 
home where earlier he had been sick with pneumonia 
and shell-shock. "One of our favorite boys," Mr. 
Shepard called him, "you can be proud of Steve." 
Stephen died in Paris on March 19, 191 9. The remark 
of Lieutenant Gores shows, as well as words can, Stephen 
Dresser's fineness: "No braver soldier stood and as a 
man he had his ideals and lived strictly up to them." 



238 




STEPHEN RAYMOND DRESSER 

Born October 20, 1898, in Westbrook, Maine. Son of Ernest L. and Hattie 
Raymond Dresser. Home, Brookline, Massachusetts. Educated private 
tutor and Westbrook schools. Joined American Field Service, May 26, 191 7, 
attached Section Two until September 26, 1917. Enlisted as private in 
U. S. A. Ambulance Service, Section 552. Croix de guerre, three citations, 
and American citation. Died of wounds resulting from accident, March 
19, 1919, in Paris. Buried Suresnes, Seine. 




EDWARD ILSLEY TINKHAM 

Born August 3, 1893, at Radnor, Pennsylvania, Son of Julian R. and Mary 
M. L. Tinkham. Educated Montclair Academy and Cornell University, 
Class of 1916. Joined American Field Service, February 26, 1916 ; attached 
Sections Three and Four in France to November 23, 1916. Returned to 
America and college. Organized Cornell unit. Rejoined Field Service, 
March 20, 1917; attached Transport Section 526. Commandant Adjoint 
to September 18, 1917. Croix de Guerre. Enlisted U. S. Naval Aviation; 
trained Mouchic, France. Commissioned Flight Ensign, July, 1918. To 
Porto Corsini, Italy. Italian War Cross and U. S. Navy Cross. Died 
March 30, 1919, of meningitis and pneumonia, at Ravenna, Italy. Cre- 
mated at Bologna. Ashes deposited in the Muro perpetuo of the Cemetery, 
Ravenna, Italy. 



EDWARD ILSLEY TINKHAM 

Slender, with regular features, clear eyes, and a fair 
complexion, "Ed" Tinkham at first glance always gave 
one the impression of being younger than he was. Yet 
there was about him an air of determination and in- 
tensity of purpose which belied his youthful appearance. 

He entered Cornell University in 191 2 and was prom- 
inent in track athletics as a member of both the varsity 
track and cross-country teams. In the middle of his 
senior year, February, 191 6, he applied for a leave of ab- 
sence to join the American Field Service. The late 
winter and early spring of that year he spent with Sec- 
tion Three in Lorraine, and in June, when the Section 
was moved to the battle front of Verdun, he distin- 
guished himself for bravery and was awarded the Croix 
de Guerre. In the fall, on the departure of Section 
Three for the Orient, he was transferred to Section Four 
where he remained until late in November. 

After nine months of service, and while America still 
held aloof, he returned to Cornell to complete his college 
course, and get his degree of B.S. But with his heart 
full of the struggle which France was making, he found 
it impossible to settle down to civilian life and immedi- 
ately began to devote all his spare time to organizing a 
Cornell Unit for the Field Service. He succeeded in en- 
rolHng, by the end of March, 191 7, a unit of thirty-five 
men which made up the first body of Cornell men to ar- 
rive in France. One of his comrades wrote of him on 
the trip over : *" Ed ' Tinkham is the recognized leader of 
the unit and whatever he says goes. No one could be 
more devoted to our welfare and there is something 
about the quiet way he handles things and looks after 
us that makes everyone love and respect him." 

Arriving in France the latter part of April, the Cornell 
unit was selected as the first contingent of the camion 
corps just being organized, and on May 8, 191 7, left for 
the hastily organized training camp in the forest of 

239 



EDWARD ILSLEY TINKHAM 



Dommiers near Soissons. This unit, under Tinkham's 
leadership, is generally conceded to be the first organ- 
ized group to go to the front carrying the American 
Flag. 

After five months on the Aisne front in the camion 
service, where he proved himself a wise officer and 
leader, he resigned from the Field Service and enlisted 
in the American Naval Aviation Forces just arrived in 
France. He was commissioned a Flight Ensign in July, 
1918, and was sent to the Naval Aviation Station at 
Porto Corsini, Italy, where he served until the armistice, 
patroling the Adriatic, and in the operations against the 
Austrian Naval Base of Pola. He was cited for the 
Italian War Cross at Porto Corsini in 191 8, and subse- 
quently for the U. S. Navy Cross. Soon after the Armis- 
tice he was taken sick and was transferred to the Italian 
Military Hospital at Ravenna where he died of menin- 
gitis and pneumonia on March 30, 1919. 

"Ed" Tinkham's military career will be for those who 
knew him but the natural expression of his loyal per- 
sonality. He was one of the earliest from his Alma 
Mater to learn at first hand, months before his country 
entered the war, what the struggle meant and his posi- 
tion in her annals is unique. The following verses from 
a tribute by Professor A. B. Recknagel, which appeared 
in the "Cornell Forester" soon after his death bear wit- 
ness to the fact : 

"As the first song birds of returning Spring 
Bring hope and vigor after Winter's dearth, 
So Tinkham with his band of Cornell youths 
An earnest was of greater help to come 
And of our country girding for the strife. 



" Consumed as with a bright fierce flame 
Of patriotic fervor, he is not dead 
Whom once we knew and loved. 
He is translated, apotheosized 
As One who also loved humanity." 



240 



JAMES SNODGRASS BROWN 

His brother has written of him : "He was the type of 
boy who always cared a great deal for soldier life and 
anything that might have an element of risk in it, al- 
ways being the ring-leader when there was any mischief 
afoot. While at high school and at Staunton he played 
football and was known as a very fast, hard hitting 
player." On being graduated from the Staunton Mili- 
tary Academy, he entered business with his father where 
he remained until shortly after his father's death. Then,, 
with a boy's spirit of adventure and a desire to see some- 
thing of his own country he set out with a companion of 
his own age for the Pacific Coast. The two started with 
only moderate funds and worked their way to and from 
California, obtaining employment on cattle ranches, in 
moving picture studios, or anywhere they could find 
work. 

After such an experience, life in a New York office 
seemed insufferable and as trouble with Mexico was 
pending, he welcomed the opportunity to enlist with the 
First Cavalry, Troop C, of Brooklyn, and went with 
that squadron to the Mexican border. His was one of 
the last formations to be sent home and his discharge 
gave him an excellent character. On his return he 
entered the employ of A. G. Spaulding and Brother as a 
salesman in their New York office, but found it extremely 
difficult to adapt himself to the ordinary affairs of life, 
particularly after this country declared war on Germany. 
On June 30, 191 7, he left for France as a member of the 
American Field Service. 

His ambition was to serve in a camion section, but as 
the need just then was for ambulance drivers, he was 
sent to the front with Ambulance Section Seventy-One 
which took over its quota of Fiat cars at Noyon on July 
31, 1917. They spent the greater part of the summer 
around Noyon in action in the Saint-Quentin sector. 
Brown was acting Sous-Chef of the Section and when the 

241 



JAMES SNODGRASS BROWN 



United States Army took over the Field Service he en- 
listed in the United States Army Ambulance Service and 
was given the rank of Sergeant, first Class, and continued 
his work at the front. He was twice gassed, once in 
October, 1917, and again the following year, and was 
awarded a ** Medal of Honor" with citation by the French 
Government for his work during a grippe epidemic 
among the French soldiers. 

During the latter part of his stay in France he suf- 
fered from the effects of gas and diabetes and was for a 
time transferred to the Provisional Battalion in Paris. 
He arrived in Hoboken, on the U. S. Transport Mobile, 
April 23, 1919, in a semi-conscious condition and was 
taken immediately to the United States Embarkation 
Hospital No. i where, three days later, he died. His 
commanding officer wrote of him in a letter to his brother : 
"Your brother served under my command as assistant 
sergeant-major during the most critical period of the 
war. His loyalty, energy, faithfulness, and devotion 
are such that I cannot put into words my appreciation 
of his services. I feel that his death is not only that of a 
valued and trusted assistant, but that of a warm per- 
sonal friend as well." 



242 




JAMES SNODGRASS BROWN 

Born February lo, 1893, in New York City. Son of Willard P. and Mae 
McHenry Brown. Educated Mount Vernon High School, New York, and 
Staunton Military Academy, Virginia. Business with W. P. Brown and 
Sons. Troop C, ist N. Y. Cavalry. Seven months Mexican Border. Busi- 
ness with A. G. Spaulding and Bro. Joined American Field Service, June 

30, 1917; attached Sections Seventy-one and Twenty-nine, until August 

31, 191 7. Transferred to U. S. A. Ambulance Service. Ill in Paris. Ar- 
rived in America, April 23, 1919. Died April 26, 1919, in Embarkation 
Hospital Number One, Hoboken, New Jersey, of diabetes and gas-poison- 
ing. Buried in New Rochelle, New York. 




EDWARD NEWELL WARE, Junior 

Born April 5, 1892, at Florence, Wisconsin. Son of Reverend Edward N. 
and Cora Willis Ware. Home, Chicago, Illinois. Educated Lake View High 
School, Chicago. Business, four years. Northwestern University, Evans- 
ton, Illinois, Class of 1919. Joined American Field Service, May 5th, 191 7 ; 
attached Section Thirteen. Enlisted U. S. A. Ambulance Service with 
French Army. Gassed November, 191 7, near Verdun. Joined Hoover Food 
Commission, February, 19 19, at Paris. Died of smallpox at Bucharest, 
Roumania, May 7, 1919. Buried Military Cemetery, Bucharest. 



EDWARD NEWELL WARE, Junior 

With a sensitive, artistic mind, "interested in books, 
architecture, art, and music," Edward Newell Ware, Jr., 
combined unusual firmness of mind and sturdiness of 
character. Unwilling to continue college after his fresh- 
man year because of the burden upon his father's shoul- 
ders, he gave up his cherished hopes and set resolutely 
to work in a field for which he had no love, but which he 
mastered so completely that, at the end of four years, 
he was able to resume his place in the School of Engi- 
neering of Northwestern University. He was initiated 
into the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and became a leader 
in its activities, — "an inspiration to all who were as- 
sociated with him." "Architecture was his goal," says 
his mother, "to which his constructive ability and his 
appreciation of art led him." He advanced rapidly and 
stood high on the Honor Roll for scholarship when the 
war made a second and final interruption of his career. 
He enlisted in the American Field Service and sailed for 
France on May 5, 1917. 

He gave himself as wholeheartedly to the work of 
transporting wounded as to everything else he had ever 
undertaken. "He was the most courageous and fearless 
of us," says a comrade ; and others speak of "his won- 
derful devotion to his wounded," and of his self-sac- 
rificing helpfulness on all occasions. In November, 
191 7, he was badly gassed, but his love of action and 
desire to be with the Section soon brought him back 
from the hospital where he might have had a much 
longer convalescence. He was loved by his companions, 
as he had been at college, not only for the strange beauty 
of his nature, but also for his courageous independence 
of spirit which led him, regardless of consequence, into 
generous and brotherly acts. With instinctive sym- 
pathy for the "under dog," he used to be particularly 
friendly to fellows in the Section who, through some ac- 
cident or slight fault, had become temporarily unpopu- 

243 



EDWARD NEWELL WARE, Junior 



lar. Music was the great comfort and delight of his 
life. It exalted him, lifting him above the "dreadful 
circumstance of war" into the beautiful places where 
his delicate and impressionable imagination wandered 
joyous and free. It was this imagination of his that 
made him so keenly alive to the horror and suffering of 
war, and caused him to bear equally with his wounded 
the pain caused by long journeys over frightful roads. 

After the Armistice, instead of returning home with 
his unit, Newell volunteered his services to the Hoover 
Food Commission, and after serving for a short time in 
Paris, was sent out with a small contingent to bring 
help to the poor and suffering of Roumania. He re- 
joiced in what he referred to as "this very minor sort 
of role in the economic reconstruction of a romantic 
story book country, poor Roumania." It was while 
working in the midst of famine and disease that he con- 
tracted smallpox, from which he died on May 7, 1919. 
He was buried with full military honors in the cemetery 
of Bucharest. 

Newell's sympathies were broad and quick, his gen- 
erosity ready and open, and his character unflinchingly 
upright. The many friends who wrote to his mother 
on learning of his death were all impressed by the fact 
that by no word or deed had he ever swerved the least 
bit from "the high ideals of pure, true manhood which 
he held." "He not only stood for the right and best," 
says his fraternity paper, "but he had the supreme 
courage of his convictions." It is this completeness of 
his spiritual and moral development that alone can 
lessen the tragedy of his unrealized hopes and ambitions. 



244 



HUGO WING FALES 

Many of the men who volunteered for the American 
Field Service were young fellows still in college, free of 
responsibility, whose departure did not include giving 
up a hard-won position in the world. Hugo Wing Fales 
went with the same ready spirit of sacrifice that moved 
them all, in spite of the fact that for him it meant making 
the climb in business all over again when he should come 
back. He was twenty-six years old with a successful 
record as salesman for a silk manufacturing concern 
when, in July, 1917, he sailed for France. He went out 
to the front in the camion branch joining Section 397, 
and when the American Field Service was taken over by 
the United States Army, he enlisted in the American 
Mission, continuing his work as a truck driver with the 
French army. His ability as a driver and his knowledge 
of machinery caused him to be included, shortly after 
his enlistment, among those to attend a course at Chau- 
vigny for instructors. After graduating from this school 
in January, 191 8, he was made an instructor for American 
truck drivers at Pont St. Maixent and later at Motor 
Transport School Number One. On November 11, 
191 8, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of the 
M. T. C. and assigned to duty as assistant to the Motor 
Transport Officer at Bourges. Throughout the dreary 
winter and spring that followed the armistice he worked 
at his uninspired task with unflagging cheerfulness, 
never complaining even when troops with half his length 
of service went past him on their way home, while he 
stayed apparently anchored to his desk for all time. His 
commanding officer, Captain Russell H. Bird, says that 
"at all times he proved himself an untiring and energetic 
worker, with a sunny disposition and a kind word for 
everyone." It was a time when it took all a man's 
buoyancy of spirit just to keep smiling, yet Hugo always 
managed to create an atmosphere of cheeriness even 
when his heart ached most for home. In his letters he 

245 



HUGO WING FALES 



betrayed very little of his real feelings. In the last one, 
written eight days before his death, there is no word of 
complaint, — simply the casual reference, "I don't ex- 
pect to get to go before July 15th. It seems a long time, 
doesn't it, but the time flies." 

Colonel David L. Stone of the General Staff has given 
the following account of the accident that caused Hugo's 
death. 

"The Motor Transport Park where your son was on 
duty is located near the proving grounds or target range 

for a French artillery depot On the morning 

of May 2nd a shrapnel shell being fired on the French 
proving grounds burst prematurely in mid-air and by 
some freak of the explosion part of the shell was pro- 
jected way to one side, crashing through the roof of the 
office and striking your son in the hip. Every medical 
attention was at once administered and Captain Bird, 
his commanding officer, offered to have his own blood 
transmitted to your son in order to compensate for ex- 
cessive bleeding, but the shock of the large piece of 
metal passing through your son's body was too great 
for him to recover." 

He was game to the very end. When he was given 
cocaine he said smilingly, "If I had known it was so 
easy to take dope, I would have tried it long ago." 

Colonel Stone concluded his report with the words 
"I know that he was universally loved and respected 
by all officers and men," and this opinion was held by 
everyone who came in contact with him. The words 
of his chaplain, Edward J. Smith, might stand for all, "I 
doubt if there was an officer more popular with his men 
or more highly esteemed by his fellow officers for the 
fine soldierly qualities he displayed." 



246 




HUGO WING FALES 

Born March 17, 1892, in Belding, Michigan. Son of Elmer E. and Clara 
Palmer Fales. Educated Belding High School and Ferris Institute. Six 
years with Belding Brothers & Company, silk manufacturers. Joined Amer- 
ican Field Service, August 7, 191 7; attached Transport Section 397 until 
November 13, 191 7. Enlisted U. S. Motor Transport Corps ; attached Sec- 
tion 242. Commissioned Second Lieutenant, M. T. C, November 11, 1918. 
Killed by accidental explosion of shell, Bourges, May 2, 1919. Buried at 
Bourges, Cher. 




KRAMER CORE TABLER 

Born April 2, 1895, in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Son of Professor Daniel 
C. and Ella Core Tabler. Educated Parkersburg High School and Marietta 
College, Ohio, Class of 1920. Joined American Field Service, May 26, 191 7 ; 
attached Transport Section 184 to November 20, 191 7. Enlisted U. S. 
Aviation, January, 1918. Trained French schools. Commissioned Sec- 
ond Lieutenant, May 8, 1918. Instructor, First Air Depot, Colombey-Ies- 
Belles. First Lieutenant, May 12, 19 19. Killed in aeroplane accident, May 
16, 1919, Colombey-les-Belles. Buried Colombey-les-Belles, Meurthe-et- 
Moselle. 



KRAMER CORE TABLER 

On the very eve of his departure from camp, having just 
received his commission as First Lieutenant and his 
saiHng orders to return to America, Lieutenant Kramer 
Core Tabler met his tragic death. 

On the 1 6th of May, 1919, while rendering his last 
service in instructing a fellow ofhcer to fly, the plane 
carrying both men "crashed" from a distance of about 
one thousand feet, burst into flames, and the two officers 
were instantly killed. On the following day, the same 
on which he was to have left to go to a port of embarka- 
tion for America, he and his comrade were tenderly 
buried in a little cemetery in France, with forty-two 
other Americans, near the field where they fell. 

Beloved by all who knew him. Lieutenant Tabler had, 
indeed, in his two years of service, "played his part and 
proved himself a man." 

The grandson of Brigadier General Andrew S. Core, 
of the Civil War, he was born in Parkersburg, West 
Virginia, April 2, 1895. He graduated from the Parkers- 
burg High School in 1 91 3. In the fall of 191 6 he entered 
Marietta College with just ten dollars in his pocket and a 
lively determination to earn his way. Then the menace 
of war beckoned to us, and in the spring of 191 7 young 
Tabler enlisted in the "Marietta Unit" for which his 
college equipped and sent twenty boys to France. They 
sailed from New York, May 26th, arriving in France, 
June 4th, where they drove camions for the American 
Field Service. Young Tabler served in this capacity 
until November 20th. 

Instead of returning to America at the expiration of 
his enlistment with the American Field Service he re- 
mained in France and the following January he entered 
the American Aviation. He was immediately sent to a 
training school, from which he was commissioned a 
Second Lieutenant and Pilot, May 8, 191 8. 

Instead of being sent to the front immediately, he was 

247 



KRAMER CORE TABLER 



stationed at the First Air Depot in Colombey-les-Belles 
where he remained, as a flying instructor, during the rest 
of the war, and until the spring of 191 9, when he met his 
death. 

All those who saw Lieutenant Tabler, testify to his 
being the most daring of all the officers at the First Air 
Depot, and one of the most loved. The day he was 
killed, according to his comrades in the camp, was the 
iDluest of all their days over there. 

Kramer Tabler was always happy, and glad just to be 
alive. The most companionable of boys, he naturally 
made friends readily, and held them to him by bonds of 
deep affection. He was a great sportsman, loving ac- 
tivity, competition, good clean fun. His home he rev- 
erenced and idolized and loved beyond all else — as he 
was loved in return there, and wherever he went. 

Yet he renounced all this, like thousands of others, to 
do the task which lay unquestionably before him — 
before all of his kind. With the precious gift of his life 
he contributed to the greatest moral victory of all his- 
tory. 

This poem by an ambulance man of Section Sixty- 
Five, might well have been his song : 

"Where I shall fall upon my battleground 
There may I rest — nor carry me away. 
What holier hills could in these days be found 
Than hills of France to hold a soldier's clay ? 
Nor need ye place the cross of wooden stuff 
Over my head to mark my age and name ; 
This very ground is monument enough ! 
'T is all I wish of show or outward fame. 
Deep in the hearts of fellow countrymen 
My first immortal sepulchre shall be, 
Greater than all the tombs of ancient kings. 
What matter where my dust shall scatter then ? 
I shall have served my country overseas 
And loved her — dying with a heart that sings." 

R. W. G. 



248 



FRANK HOPKINS, Junior 

Frank Hopkins, Jr., was a little older than most of the 
men in the American Field Service, but in his enthusiasm 
and eagerness to see action he was almost boyish. On 
November 20, 191 7, he wrote, "At last, at last ! Tonight 
at suppertime came the long-looked for and impatiently- 
awaited ' ordre de mouvement,' and it looks as though we 
would get to see the front!" But the orders were 
countermanded, and it was not until some weeks later 
that his Section was finally on its way to the Chemin des 
Dames. Frank's letters from the front were extraor- 
dinarily restrained, with hardly a reference to the fact 
of war. He wrote often and at length, but confined 
himself to telling of the routine of section life and of his 
personal relations with the other men. There is not a 
single mention of shelling or of danger of any kind, 
though Section Sixty-Five saw a great deal of fighting 
and suffered its share of casualties. Through his cor- 
respondence we see him as a man of humor, who saw life 
clearly and simply, with a healthy matter-of-factness. 

In August, 1 91 7, Frank enlisted in the American Field 
Service, sailing with the Syracuse University Unit, and 
left Paris with Section Sixty-Five which had just been 
taken over by the army, and which was at that time 
stationed at a rest camp. 

There is nothing more deadly than a prolonged repos, 
particularly to one who has never seen the front and is 
all anxiety lest the war be over before he gets there, but 
Frank's sense of humor saved him from utter discourage- 
ment. On November 22d, after the Section had made a 
futile move to another rest camp he wrote disappointedly 
but philosophically, "Anyway we are seeing a little of 
France — about twenty miles in two months. In De- 
cember with undampened spirits, though with the added 
discomfort of the cold to depress him, he wrote, "The 
business of war seems to have struck a dull season, but 
I guess there is no danger of the help being laid off." 

249 



FRANK HOPKINS, Junior 



The Section, however, made up for its long idleness by 
getting into the midst of the action that marked the fol- 
lowing spring and summer. Frank was constitutionally 
delicate and the exhausting work weakened his powers 
of resistance to any sickness that might be in the air. 
Towards the end of September he was evacuated for 
grippe and wrote from Base Camp — "I should be able 
to rejoin the Section soon, as they need every man now. 
And here I am down here — sick — and missing the fun 
and excitement up there." A year of war had not in the 
least quenched his enthusiasm. 

After a few arduous weeks at Base Camp he managed 
to get sent to Paris, to the haven of all Field Service men, 
21 rue Raynouard, from which he wrote, "Here I am 
home again, or so it seems to me — the old Field Service 
headquarters — the first place that made us feel at 
home in this foreign land!" He remembered his con- 
valescing there as one of the bright spots of his life in 
France and often referred to the care he received and 
the attention with which he was treated. He arrived 
at the front again in time to take part in the last splendid 
drive, writing on November 4th that his division had 
just made "a fine advance of forty kilometers or more." 

After the Armistice, Section Sixty-Five followed its 
French division into Germany as a part of the Army of 
Occupation until the last days of March, 1919, when it 
was called back to Base Camp at Ferrieres and eventually 
sent home. On June 5th of the same year Frank died 
at General Hospital No. 5, Fort Ontario, New York, of 
valvular disease of the heart. The manner of his death 
was tragic, but no one who knew him can ever doubt 
that he met it with the same smiling courage and ready 
enthusiasm that he had carried across the sea into his 
other Great Adventure. 



250 




FRANK HOPKINS, Junior 

Born March 2, 1888, in Syracuse, New York. Son of Frank and Mary 
Lally Hopkins. Educated Syracuse Central High School and Syracuse 
University, Class of 1910. Practiced law. Joined American Field Service, 
August 16, 191 7 ; attached Section Sixty-five. Transferred to U. S. Am- 
bulance Service, Section 552. Returned to America, March, 1919. Died of 
heart disease, June 5, 1919, at General Hospital No. 5, Fort Ontario, New 
York. Buried in St. Agnes Cemetery, Syracuse, New York. 




JERRY THOMAS ILLICH 

Born April 30, 1893, '" Los Angeles, California. Son of Jerry and Helen 
Stovell Illich. Home, San Diego, California. Educated Belmont School, 
California, and University of California, Class of 1913. Farming. Joined 
American Field Service, December 30, 1915; attached Section Three to 
May 22, 1916. Returned to America. Subsequently enlisted U. S. Aviation 
at Chico, California. Trained University of California and Rockwell Field, 
San Diego. Commissioned First Lieutenant, January 9, 191 7. Trained 
Camp Dick, Texas, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Camp Columbia, South 
Carolina. Sailed for France, September 13, 1918. Attached 278th Aero 
Squadron. Killed in accident, April 7, 1919, at Toul. Buried American 
Cemetery, Toul, Meurthe-et-Moselle. Body transferred to Thiaucourt, 
Meurthe-et-Moselle. 



JERRY THOMAS ILLICH 

After five months with a Field Service section on the 
Lorraine front, to have gone back to the United States 
to enter the aviation branch of the army, to have trained 
in various parts of the country and then finally, having 
returned to the front in the 278th Aero Squadron with 
prospects of immediate active service, and then to have 
lost his life in a sudden and avoidable accident — this 
was the tragic misfortune of Jerry Illich. Nor was that 
all. Adding to the bitterness of the tragedy, two other 
American lives were needlessly sacrificed in a heart- 
broken effort to pay homage to Illich. 

The unfortunate accident at Toul is described by II- 
lich's sister, as follows : 

"On April 7, 1919, Lieutenant Illich and four others 
were walking across a field where there were several 
hangars and planes 'warming up.' Suddenly one 
started to take off. An officer about forty feet in front 
of my brother saw him, ran, and yelled a warning at the 
same time. But my brother turned to see what was 
coming and found the machine so close that he threw 
himself on the ground, thinking the plane would rise 
above him. But the pilot was unable to do this, and 
the plane's wheel hit my brother between the shoulders, 
crushing his heart. He lived only a few minutes. 

"The Lieutenant in the plane that killed my brother 

was beside himself and the day of the funeral, 

wanted to pay a final tribute by showering flowers upon 
the cortege. While doing this he crashed into another 
machine, above the grave, and the two came down, one 
in flames, the other a total wreck. Both pilots were 
instantly killed. They now lie beside my brother in the 
cemetery at Toul." 

Jerry Illich's devotion to duty was described by a 
friend in a letter written when the former first vol- 
unteered for service in France : "Jerry wishes to go and 
serve in the ambulance unit, knowing that such adven- 

251 



JERRY THOMAS ILLICH 



ture is not a pleasure trip and appreciating full well the 
hard work which will follow. He goes for the service to 
mankind which he can render." 

He tirst sailed for France in December of 191 5 to join 
the American Ambulance Field Service, and was sent 
with Section Three to Lorraine, where he served loyally 
and efficiently for five months. 

Returning to the United States, Jerry enlisted in the 
United States Air Service at Chico, California : and 
entered the first school of aviation at the University of 
California. From there he went to Rockwell Field, 
where he was commissioned a First Lieutenant. After 
training at Camp Dick and Fort Sill, he received his 
sailing orders while at Camp Columbia, South Carolina. 
He sailed from New York, September 13, 1918, and, the 
following month, joined the 278th Aero Squadron at 
Toul. There he remained until the time of his death, 
April 7, 1919. 

In the little American cemetery near Toul, last resting 
place of many American aviators, three graves side by 
side mark the place where lie these three loyal Ameri- 
cans overtaken by such unforseen misfortune. There 
upon his grave wreaths were kept fresh for months by 
comrades who carried on to victory the fight to which 
Jerry lUich had dedicated his life. 



252 



HAROLD VINCENT AUPPERLE 

Like Kim, "a friend to all the world," — that was 
Harold Vincent Aupperle, of Section Ten. "Little Aup," 
as he was lovingly called by his pals, gave his life in the 
service of humanity. It was in the bleak and dingy 
little town of Nova Varosh, Serbia, that he fought his 
last battle — with typhus. Weary, worn, and weak 
from the strain of unrelenting service, "Little Aup" lost. 

Aupperle came from Grand Junction, Colorado, where 
by his eighteenth year he had finished school and had 
become city editor of a crusading daily paper. Three 
years later he began his college career at Stanford Uni- 
versity, where he captained a winning track team and 
became a leader in student affairs. Chancellor David 
Starr Jordan took Aupperle as private secretary on a 
number of his extended tours. 

Aupperle 's story is not one of spectacular heroism. 
War's choice for him was a series of drudgeries, monot- 
onous details, and steady duties. He accepted his lot 
with cheerful endurance and whimsical philosophy. 
When death took him all unexpectedly, Aupperle was 
on the last lap of a wearing, nerve-racking job, doing his 
bit long after he might have been repatriated, had he so 
wished. 

Rejected for regular war service, in the spring of 191 7, 
as underweight, Aupperle enlisted in the Field Service 
with the third Stanford unit. On reaching Paris he was 
assigned to the second Stanford Section, just starting 
for the Balkans. There he served with the French 
Armee d' Orient until his formation was recalled to France. 
When the Field Service was militarized Aupperle was 
rejected by the army and navy and as a last resort en- 
listed in the American Red Cross, returning, in Decem- 
ber, 1 91 7, to the unfortunate Balkans. 

At Salonica Aupperle had charge of the Red Cross 
motor transport for nearly a year. Then he joined the 
first relief expedition for Northern Serbia. He was in a 

253 



HAROLD VINCENT AUPPERLE 



small party that left Salonica early in December. Two 
weeks of adventure brought the expedition to Fiume. 
To Aupperle was assigned the difficult task of getting 
supplies through to Belgrade. He took the first relief 
to the Serbian capital, and received the grateful thanks 
of its people. 

In April, at Belgrade, Aupperle suggested that he 
might get relief to certain mountain regions along the 
Bosnian frontier where conditions were distressful. 
Transportation was the principal problem. Aupperle 
was given this strenuous and tremendous undertaking 
and eventually was able to lead a train of wagons loaded 
with miscellaneous supplies to the beleaguered region. 

His letters tell of plodding ox-cart caravans, and of 
weary treks with trains of pack animals. From a land 
of desolation he wrote letters so cheerful that they were 
used as official propaganda to counteract lagging en- 
thusiasm. Aupperle was just completing this last as- 
signment when he succumbed to the malignant typhus. 
A letter received by a chum in the vsame service two 
weeks before Aupperle's death, had said, "Another week 
will see me out of here — a country which would make 
Buddha himself lose his even temperament. Well, 
Pop, pray that I may have good luck and finish up 
quickly." 

"A little more than two weeks later," writes this 
chum, "on the hills beside the Danube, the Prince's 
band stopped playing for a moment while a company of 
Serbian veterans fired a salute over an open grave. 
Over and over again I said, 'Goodbye, Little Aup,' as I 
thought in turn of the many friends, American, French, 
British, Greek, Serbian, Albanian, and Turkish, that 
loved him, too." 



254 




HAROLD VINCENT AUPPERLE 

Born August 9, 1892, in Sioux City, Iowa. Son of D. W. and Nancy Oilman 
Aupperle. Home, Grand Junction, Colorado. Educated Grand Junction 
High School and Leland Stanford University, Class of 191 7. Joined Ameri- 
can Field Service, June 25, 191 7 ; attached Section Ten in the Balkans to 
November 18, 191 7. Rejected by U. S. Army and Navy. Enlisted Ameri- 
can Red Cross. To Salonica and Belgrade. Serbian Order of the White 
Eagle. Died June 14, 1919, of typhus at Nova Varosh, Serbia. Buried 
Belgrade, Serbia. Body transferred to Masonic Cemetery, Grand Junction, 
Colorado. 



U'^mes and 'burial T'laces 

of Field Service 'JtCen 

who died in the War 



ALPHABETICAL INDEX 

With Places of Burial 

Anderson, Charles Patrick 155 

American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle. 
AupPERLE, Harold Vincent 253 

Masonic Cemetery, Grand Junction, Colorado. 
Avard, Percy Leo 65 

Calvary Cemetery, Long Island, New York. 
Bacon, Charles 207 

Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. 
Baer, Carlos Willard 69 

Oxford, Ohio. 
Bailey, Kenneth Armour 185 

American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle. 
Balbiani, Roger Marie Louis 95 

Paris, Seine. 

Banks, Richard Varian 215 

Cimetiere du Sud, Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle. 
Barclay, Leif Norman 17 

Chaux, Territoire de Belfort. {Probably ultimately American 
Cemetery, Belleau Wood, Aisne.) 
Barker, Robert Harris 131 

American Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. {To be transferred to Fern 
Hill Cemetery, Hanson, Massachusetts^ 
Baylies, Frank Leaman 105 

Courcelles-Epayelles, Oise. 
Beane, James Dudley 217 

American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. 
Benney, Philip Phillips S7 

Glorieux, Meuse. 
Benson, Merrill Manning 197 

Sterling, Illinois. 
Bentley, Paul Cody 35 

Seringes-et-Nesles, Aisne. 
BiGELOw, Donald Asa • 99 

American Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. {To be transferred to Lin- 
wood Cemetery, Colchester, Connecticut.) 
Bliss, Addison Leech 9 

Peabody Cemetery, Springfield, Massachusetts. 
Blodgett, Richard Ashley 85 

American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Meurthe-et-Moselle. 
Bluethenthal, Arthur loi 

Wilmington, North Carolina. 
Boyer, Wilbur LeRoy i99 

National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia. 
Bricexey, Arthur Joseph 223 

Ploisy, Aisne. {Ultimately to be returned to America.) 
Brown, James Snodgrass 241 

New Rochelle, New York. 
Brown, Stafford Leighton 171 

American Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. 
Bruce, Alexander Bern i3S 

American Cemetery, Fismes, Marne. 



Buckler, Leon Hamlink 163 

Urbes, Alsace. {To be transferred to Mount Hope Cemetery, Roches- 
ter, New York.) 
Burr, Carleton 119 

Unknown. 
Burton, Benjamin Howell, Jr 157 

American Cemetery, Tout, Meurthe-et- Moselle. (To be transferred 
to Willows, Glenn County, California.) 
Carkener, Stuart, 2D 123 

Belleau Cemetery. ( To be transferred to Forest Hill Cemetery, Kan- 
sas City, Missouri.) 
Clark, Coleman Tileston 93 

Ambleny, Aisne {west of Soissons). 
Clover, Greayer 143 

Issoudun, Indre. 
Conover, Richard Stevens, 2D 91 

American Cemetery, Villers-Tournelles, Somme. 
Craig, Harmon Bushnell 27 

Ville-sur-Cousances, Meuse. 
Craig, Harry Worthington 139 

American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. 
Culbertson, Tingle Woods 179 

American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. 
CuMiNGs, Henry Harrison, 3D 41 

Body never recovered. 
Davison, Alden 49 

Kensico Cemetery, New York. 
Dix, Roger Sherman, Jr 79 

Le Crotoy, Somme. 
Donahue, Leon Henton 191 

Gloucester, Massachusetts. 
DowD, Meredith Loveland 213 

American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. 
Dresser, George Eaton 169 

Vauquois Woods, Meuse {south of Varennes). 
Dresser, Stephen Raymond 237 

American Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. 
Du BoucHET, Charles Vivian 77 

Paris, Seine. 
Edwards, George Lane, Jr 209 

Guignicourt, Aisne. 
Elliott, William Armstrong 14S 

American Naval Cemetery, Pauillac, Gironde. 
Ellis, Clayton Carey 129 

Longley Cemetery, Sidney, Maine. 
Emerson, William Key Bond, Jr 83 

American Cemetery, Vignot, Meuse. {North of Commercy.) 
Fales, Hugo Wing 245 

Bourges, Cher. 
Ferguson, Danforth Brooks 201 

American Cemetery, France. 
FisKE, Charles Henry, 3D 141 

American Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. 
FoRBUSH, Frederic Moore 183 

Cremated at Detroit, Michigan. 

258 



FoRMAN, Horace Baker, 3D 151 

American Cemetery, Issoudun, Indre. 
Fowler, Eric Anderson 45 

Pau, Basses Pyrenees. 
Freeborn, Charles James 231 

Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, California. 
Frutiger, Theodore Raymond 75 

Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Morris, Pennsylvania. 
Gailey, James Wilson 29 

Beaurieux, Aisne. 
GiLMORE, Albert Frank 175 

Winthrop, Maine. 
GiROux, Ernest Armand 87 

Estaires, Nord (north-east of Bethune). 
Glorieux, Gilbert Robertson 195 

Clinton Cemetery, Irvington, New Jersey. 
Goodwin, George Waite 113 

Rural Cemetery, Albany, New York. 
Graham, John Ralston 117 

West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
Hagan, William Becker 81 

Brookline, Massachusetts. 
Hall, Richard Nelville i 

Moosch, Alsace. 
Hamilton, Perley Raymond 31 

Beaurieux, Aisne. {To he transferred to Woodlawn Cemetery, 
Clinton, Massachusetts.) 
Hannah, Fred A 161 

Souilly, Meuse. {To be transferred to Dunmore Cemetery, Scran- 
ton, Pennsylvania. 
Harrison, Waller Lisle, Jr 177 

American Cemetery, Issoudun, Indre. 
Hathaway, Edward Trafton 107 

American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Meurthe-et- Moselle. {Ulti- 
mately to be transferred to National Cemetery, Arlington, 
Virginia.) 
Hill, Stanley 133 

La Veuve, Marne. 
HoBBS, Warren Tucker . 109 

British Military Cemetery, Poperinghe, West Flanders, Belgium. 
HoLBROOK, Newberry 61 

Essey-les-Nancy, Meurthe-et- Moselle. {To be transferred to Wood- 
lawn Cemetery, New York.) 
HoLLisTER, George Merrick 193 

American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. 
Hopkins, Charles Alexander 59 

Fair mount Cemetery, Newark, New Jersey. 
Hopkins, Frank, Jr 249 

Saint Agnes Cemetery, Syracuse, New York. 
Houston, Henry Howard, 2D 137 

Suresnes, Seine. 
Humason, Howard Crosby 203 

New Canaan, Connecticut. 

259 



Illich, Jerry Thomas 251 

American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Meurthe-et- Moselle. 
JoPLiNG, Richard Mather 235 

Brockwood Cemetery, Surrey, England. 
Kelley, Edward Joseph 3 

Blercourt, Meuse. 
Kendall, Charles Benjamin 233 

Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 
Kent, Warren Thompson 149 

American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Meurthe-et- Moselle. 
Kimber, Arthur Clifford 165 

Body as yet unrecovered. 
King, Gerald Colman 39 

Grace Church Cemetery, Jamaica, Long Island, New York. 
Kurtz, Paul Borda 89 

American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Meurthe-et- Moselle. 
Leach, Ernest Hunnewell 53 

Issoudun, Indre. 
Lee, Schuyler 71 

Grave never found. 
Lewis, Stevenson Paul 219 

American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. {To be 
transferred to Lakeview Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio.) 
LiNDSLEY, Paul Warren 181 

American Cemetery, Issoudun, Indre. 
Lines, Howard Burchard 7 

American Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. 
Mackenzie, Gordon Kenneth 103 

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts. 
MacMonagle, Douglas 37 

American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. 
McCoNNELL, James Rogers 11 

Petit-Detroit, Aisne. 
Meacham, Robert Douglas 47 

Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio. 
Miller, Walter Bernard 127 

North of Chateau-Thierry, Aisne. 
Myers, Arthur 23 

Greenwood Cemetery, New York. 
Newlin, John Verplanck 33 

American Cemetery, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse. 
Nichols, Alan Hammond 97 

American Cemetery, Ploisy, Aisne. 
Norton, George Frederick 25 

Moravian Cemetery, New Dorp, Staten Island, New York. 
OsBORN, Paul Gannett 21 

Hopital Farman, near Mourmelon-le-Grand, Champagne. 
Palmer, Henry Brewster 43 

Pau, Basses Pyrenees. 
Porter, Albert Augustus 15 

Oakwood Cemetery, Niagara Falls, New York. 
Potter, William Clarkson 189 

American Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. 
Rhinelander, Philip Newbold 167 

Murville, Meurthe-et- Moselle {southeast of Longuyon). 

260 



Robertson, Malcolm Troop 125 

American Cemetery, Seringes-et-Nesles, Aisne. (To be transferred 
to American Cemetery, Belleau Wood.) 
Rogers, Randolph 115 

American Cemetery, Fere-en-Tardenois, Aisne. 
Root, George Welles 227 

Magdalen Hill Cemetery, Winchester, England. 
Sambrook, Walter Laidlaw 147 

American Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. 
Sargeant, Grandville LeMoyne 73 

Beaver, Pennsylvania. 
Sayre, Harold Holden 153 

American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Meurthe-et- Moselle. (Ultimately 
to be buried in Hollywood, California. 
SoRTWELL, Edward Carter S 

Mount A uburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 
Stewart, Gordon 51 

Tours, Indre-et-Loire. 
SucKLEY, Henry Eglinton Montgomery 13 

Koritza, Albania. 
Taber, Arthur Richmond 229 

American Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. 
Tabler, Kramer Core 247 

Colombey-les-Belles, Meurthe-et- Moselle. 
Taylor, William Henry, Jr 159 

American Cemetery, Thiaucourt, Meurthe-et- Moselle 
Tinkham, Edward Ilsley 239 

Ravenna, Italy (ashes in the Muro Perpetuo of the cemetery). 
Tutein, Chester Robinson 221 

Souilly, Meuse. 
Tyson, Stuart Mitchell Stephen 121 

American Cemetery in France. 
Wallace, William Noble 187 

Crawfordsville, Indiana. 
Ward, Galbraith 225 

Chdteau Vilain, Haute-Marne. 
Ware, Edward Newell, Jr 243 

Military Cemetery, Bucharest, Roumania, 
Warner, Goodwin iii 

American Cemetery, Suresnes, Seine. 
Watkins, Osric Mills 205 

Bar-le-Duc, Meuse. (To be transferred to Crown Hill 
Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana.) 
Westcott, John Howell, Jr 173 

Bony, Aisne (south of Le Catelet). 
Whyte, William Jewell 63 

Bordeaux, Gironde. 
WiNSOR, Philip 211 

Bussang, Vosges. 

Woodward, Henry Howard Houston 67 

South of Montdidier, Somme. 
Woodworth, Benjamin Russell 19 

Chdlons-sur- Vesle, Marne. 
Wright, Jack Morris SS 

Issoudun, Indre. 

261 



McGRATH-SHERRlLL PRESS 
BOSTON, MASS. 



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